What The
by cvtisjustok
Summary: A rebounded spell causes Harry's soul to travel to the end of his second year. Strange magic causes a unexpected result. Determined Harry, Good but misguided Dumbledore.
1. Chapter 1

What The

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own or make any money from this or any story. All Characters belong to their creator or owner.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

A moment later Voldemort was killed by his own rebounded spell, his body hit the ground, but so did another. Two wands clattered on the marble of the Great Hall, as the second spell slammed into Harry chest; the rebounded Expelliarmus had mingled with the Avada Kedavra. The combination of the two spells, and a damaged soul from suffering the Killing Curse less than an hour previously, had a strange reaction, as the Deathly Hallows and the magic of Hogwarts caused an occurrence that no one could have predicted. It would forever remain unexplained, but Harry's soul was ripped from his body and thrown into a vortex of color and light. ' _At least Voldemort was destroyed and I'll see my parents, Sirius, and Remus again…_ ' thought Harry as he traveled through the vortex. After an eternity, or a few seconds, Harry found himself, or at least his essence, not in the afterlife- but floating above an empty Great Hall.

There was no spell damage evident and it looked like any other normal night at Hogwarts. Harry could see the House Elves cleaning but they paid no attention to him. ' _It must be night time. They couldn't have cleaned up the damage from the battle so quickly. I wonder how much time has passed? All my friends must think I'm dead. Maybe I am..? Is this what it's like to be a ghost?_ ' thought Harry. He tried to raise his arm but found he didn't have one. In fact, he didn't have a body. As far as he could tell, he was just a blob of energy that could think. He tried to talk to one of the elves, but like with his body, nothing happened. Harry thought, ' _Not a ghost then. Or was my body destroyed and this is what happens to ghosts when their body is destroyed when they die? Figures. I can't even die like a regular person_.'

A few minutes later, or was it a few hours later (Harry couldn't really tell the passing of time), Nearly Headless Nick floated through the Great Hall talking to the Fat Friar. "Can you believe that they're going to close the school?" said Nick.

"With all those students petrified and now one taken and probably killed, I can't blame them," responded the Friar.

"Poor Weasley's. And it was the little one's first year…" said Nick.

"It doesn't make sense though. She was a pureblood." said the Friar.

"Nothing makes sense these days." replied Nick.

They floated out of the Great Hall at this point and had not even noticed Harry. If they did they would have seen a very confused man. ' _Petrified students? A Weasley taken? This is what happened in second year! What's going on? How long have I been gone?'_ Harry thought. He then redoubled his effort to move around. It took a while, but he managed it. ' _Finally! But where should I go?'_ Pausing for a moment he decided to try to get to the Headmaster's office. It took several hours for Harry to even reach the corridor in front of the Headmaster's office. He passed a few teachers like McGonagall and Snape, plus a few ghosts along the way, that had paid no attention to him. ' _I must not be a regular ghost. It also seems that I'm in the past, not the future if Snape is still alive. This can't be normal_. _But then again, when is my life, or death, normal_.'

As Harry approached the office at a ridiculously slow pace, he saw Lucius Malfoy and Dobby pass right through him. Like everyone else, they paid no attention to him, but Dobby did look around confusedly as he passed through his …body?

Harry remembered what was going to happen next, he knew that soon Lucius would come back down the stairs from the office, and his younger, still alive, self would follow and trick him into freeing Dobby. Harry slowed his progress to the Headmaster's office to watch one of his most cherished memories take place again. As expected Lucius, followed by Dobby, soon made another appearance.

"Mr. Malfoy" the young Harry said gasping, "I've got something for you."

"What the-?" Malfoy replied when young Harry put a filthy sock covered diary in his hands. Malfoy then ripped the sock off the diary and tossed it aside. The spirit Harry saw it land in Dobby's hands, and suddenly felt himself pulled toward the elf. Lucius went on, "You'll meet the same sticky end as your parents one of these days Harry Potter. They were meddlesome fools too." He turned to leave and said, "Come Dobby. I said come."

Dobby eyes were transfixed on the sock in his hand and said, "Master has givin' a sock. Master gave it to Dobby…"

"What's that?" spat Lucius. "What did you say?"

"Got a sock. Master threw it, and Dobby caught it. And Dobby…Dobby is free!" said the astonished elf. All this time, the older Harry's spirit was getting closer to Dobby.

Lucius was frozen for a moment and then lunged at the younger Harry shouting, "You've lost me my servant boy!"

Dobby yelled, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!"

There was a loud bang and Lucius was thrown back, crumpling into a heap against the far wall. A moment later he stood up and pulled his wand. The spirit Harry was now at Dobby's side, and was expecting Dobby to threaten Lucius like he did last time, but then he felt his spirit being pulled inside of the elf, and had a serious case of vertigo overcome all his senses. He heard a shouted "Avada Kedavra!" and was vaguely aware of the flash of a green light. The next moment, there was an explosion of energy and he lost consciousness.

Harry didn't know how long he was out, and his body felt completely bruised and battered. "My body!" shouted Harry, sitting up quickly. It came out in a voice that was foreign to him, and he looked around in shock and confusion. He was surrounded by House Elves, all looking at him in wonder. Getting over his initial shock, he took a closer at his environment and noticed that he was in the Hogwarts kitchens.

A House Elf stepped forward and said, "Are yous OK Master Harry?"

Harry raised a green hand to rub his face. ' _Wait a minute! Why is my hand green?_ ' flashed through his mind. He then took a serious look at his own body and saw that he was in the body of a House Elf, and was wearing an old pillow case. An absurd thought assaulted him. _'Am I a House Elf!? How?_ ' and he passed out once more.

As the world started to come back into focus, Harry heard Dobby's voice calling his name repeatedly. He thought, " _It was all a dream. That was weird, thinking that I was a House Elf_.' "Not now Dobby!" he shouted to silence the excitable elf. Again his voice sounded wrong, and he opened his eyes and saw that he was still in the kitchens and surrounded by confused looking House Elves. He looked down and saw his green body, still wrapped in the dirty pillow case, and shouted, "What's going on!?"

The same elf as before approached and said, "Yous being brought to the Hoggy Warts kitchens when yous be unconscious. There be a magical explosion outside Headmaster Dumby's office and student was hurt and visitor was killed. Headmaster Dumby asked House Elves to take care of yous thinkin that yous be a House Elf, but yous not. Trappy not know how it happen, but yous Master Harry Potter and Dobby at the same time. There also bes another Harry Potter who was being hurt in the explosion. He be in the hospital right now." This had caused Harry's brain to freeze up. "Is you OK Master Harry?"

Harry just looked at his hands, arms, and body. "I don't know, can…can you get me a mirror?" He asked. A moment later a mirror was placed in his hand, and peering into it, he saw Dobby's face staring back at him. ' _Oh my god! What the hell happened?_ ' He thought.

Dobby's voice rang out in his head. " _Master Harry_!"

Harry looked around and it took a moment to remember that he was now in Dobby's body. Aloud he said, "Dobby?"

Dobby's voice was once again in his head. " _Dobby is with you Harry Potter. Dobby doesn't know what happened but Dobby is happy to be sharing his body with the great Harry Potter._ "

' _Oh great,_ ' thought Harry.

" _It is great, Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby be bonded to the bestest master in the world_ ," said the elf, not understanding the sarcasm.

' _Can you hear my thoughts?_ ' Harry said in his head. The elves were all still staring at him.

" _Oh yes Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby hears what master be thinking_."

' _Please just call me Harry_.' Harry thought. He could feel a headache coming on.

" _Yes, master Harry Potter sir. Dobby wills_."

' _But- nevermind. Dobby do you know what happened? Can you do anything or are you just a voice in my…your… OUR head?'_

" _Dobby doesn't know. Dobby wills try something_." It was silent for a minute before the elf said, " _Dobby cans not move Dobby's body but Dobby cans feel it. Dobby cans feel Master Harry's presence in controls of Dobby's body_."

' _Great_ ,' thought Harry.

Trappy once again asked, "Are yous OK Master Harry Potter?"

Harry realized that he was talking to Dobby in his head, and it would look quite odd from an outside perspective. "I don't know. I… probably. Can I have a little privacy?" Trappy nodded and the group of House Elves that was surrounding him left to do their normal duties. They kept glancing his way though. Harry was looking back on what happened to him in the last day. _'Has it been only a day? Did I really destroy Voldemort?_ ' He heard Dobby gasp in his head.

" _Master Harry has defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! But Its be happenin years from now. How its be that Master Harry has thoughts of things that nots happen yet_?"

Harry sighed to himself. ' _This is going to be hard to explain. I don't really know Dobby. I was in a battle with Voldemort and defeated him. The next thing I know, I'm five years in the past without a body. And now, I'm in your body with you in my- our head. Somehow, we bonded…or something.'_ Harry looked around for his wand, and then remembering that he didn't have one. ' _I don't have my wand_ , _I wonder if I can still do magic?_ '

Dobby then said, " _Yous a House Elf now. Yous now have House Elf magic_."

Harry thought, " _But I don't know how to use House Elf magic_.' He was starting to feel a little helpless.

" _Dobby will teach yous to use House Elf magic. Dobby be proud to teach Master Harry._ "

 _'_ _Can I learn? Wait a minute, if I'm in your body in the past, does that mean that Voldemort is still around and I have to kill him again? And did Trappy say that someone was just killed? Is the_ other _me also in the hospital right now too?'_

" _Dobby doesn't know Master Harry_."

Harry just slumped, and tried to accept the strange situation he found himself in. ' _I need to find out what's going on. OK Dobby, how do I do magic as a House Elf?_ '

" _You just think of whats yous want to happen and make it happen. Sometimes yous have to snap fingers to make its happen if yous need to do something big._ "

' _That's all?_ ' Harry thought. ' _Let me try something_.' Harry concentrated on the mirror that Trappy handed to him earlier that was now on the ground by his side. After a moment the mirror zoomed into his hand. "Cool!" he said aloud.

" _Well done Master Harry_ ," said Dobby in his head.

Harry put the mirror down and tried summoning it again. He was successful, so he tried something else. He focused on a cooking pot across the room. It came zooming into his hand like the mirror, upsetting an Elf that was washing it. "Sorry."

" _Good job Master Harry_." Dobby said again.

' _What else can you, I do Dobby?_ '

" _Yous cans do alots Master Harry. House Elves cans pop anywhere theys or master has beens before, wes cans pop things anywhere and dos almost anythings that masters cans. Wes be able to be not seen when wes want to and knows what masters wants to bes done_."

Harry was thinking of what he had seen House Elves and other wizards do. He tried to perform a Lumos charm, and his hand lit up. It went out when he thought _Nox,_ and then tried a Wingardium Leviosa, several pots and pans floated in the air. This caused many of the elves to look at Harry/Dobby again in annoyance. After he put them all down, he tried it again just thinking ' _Up_.', and the pots and pans floated up again. ' _So I don't have to think of the spells, I just have to think what I want to happen. That should make things easier.'_

" _Yes Master Harry. House Elves just thinks whats they wants done and its happen_."

' _And how do you travel, pop from place to place?_ '

" _Yous just think where yous want to be and see yous self there. Yous cans gos to anywhere yous been before, or where yous master beens before_."

Harry decided to try it out, and thought about the Great Hall. He pictured himself standing near the head of the Gryffindor table, and all of a sudden he was there. Luckily it was still before breakfast, so the student's weren't up just yet. Harry thought about being back in the kitchens, and a moment later he was back. ' _I can go anywhere?_ '

" _Any wheres yous has beens or master has beens before_." Responded Dobby.

Harry thought about all the places he knew and realized there were several that he couldn't remember ever visiting before. He knew the entire layout of the Malfoy manor and several other places. He also had a complete picture of Hogwarts, including many secret rooms and several more hidden passageways. ' _How do I know all these places?_ '

" _Dobby has beens to many of the places that yous be thinking about. Dobby doesn't know abouts some places though_."

' _So you've been to all the rooms in Hogwarts?_ '

" _No. Dobby has nots beens to all of Hoggy Warts before. Dobby thought yous has been_."

' _No I haven't. I don't know how I know it._ ' "Trappy!" Harry called out.

"Yes Master Harry?" said the elf as it moved back toward Harry.

Harry looked at the helpful elf. "Do you know how I know all of the rooms in the castle, even the hidden ones? And why are you calling me master?"

"Yous be connected to Hoggy Warts some hows, and all elves feel that yous be our master even though yous be an elf. Trappy not be knowin' why this be but Trappy be knowin' that yous now master of all elves in castle. Bein' connected to Hoggy Warts means that yous know everythings abouts her."

"Her?" said Harry.

"Yes, her" said Trappy. "Hoggy Warts be alive and a girl. Trappy not be seein' her but knows she be a she. She sometimes be whispering things in Trappy's and other elves ears."

"What kind of things?" asked Harry.

A female voice rang out in Harry's head. " _To look after myself and my charges_."

"What! Who said that?" spluttered Harry, looking around for the new voice.

Trappy answered "That be's Mistress Hoggy Warts."

"Hogwarts?" asked Harry, looking at the wall of the kitchen.

" _I am here, my son_ " said the female voice.

"Son? What is going on?"

" _You have been bonded to me through the House elf Dobby. Your soul appeared in my halls, and this was the only way I could grant you the use of a body. I do not understand how you appeared when your soul was already here, in the body of a young boy_."

"There was a battle in the future and I was hit by a spell. I woke up here as a spirit and discovered that I was in the past. I have no idea what happened… So you put me in Dobby's body? What about Dobby? Is he going to be alright? I don't want to take his life, especially if it was against his will." Said Harry.

" _Dobby be's happy to be's with Master Harry_."

"But you had no choice." Said Harry.

" _Dobby didn't knows that this be's a choice, but Dobby would be's choosing this. Dobby cans help Master Harry, both young Master Harry and old Master Harry_."

"But-" started Harry.

The female voice of Hogwarts interrupted him. " _The elf Dobby willingly submitted to my request. There was nothing you could have done to stop it_."

"I don't like it, but it seems that there is nothing I cans…can so. Trappy said that my younger body is in the hospital wing and that someone died, is this true? Who died?" asked Harry.

" _Lucius Malfoy died when his Killing Curse rebounded off the other you. You survived but Lucius Malfoy did not. There was an expansive magical discharge from your young body and you have not woken up yet. A foul piece of dark magic was destroyed in the process_." Said the voice of Hogwarts.

"Lucius Malfoy is dead? That didn't happen before. Does this mean that history can change?" wondered Harry.

The female voice said, " _Time is an unknowable and wondrous thing. I do not know what is and what is not possible. It does appear that it can, indeed, be changed_."

"So I can change things? I can stop Voldemort earlier and save a lot of people?" asked Harry.

" _It is a possibility. It is also a possibility that the turn of events could have less than positive results_ ," said Hogwarts.

"I won't let that happen." Declared Harry. "I'll do whatever I it takes to make things better, both for the wizarding world and my younger self. I swear that he won't have to go through the same things that I did." A flash of magic surrounded Harry's body following his announcement.

" _Magic has accepted your vow. I will help you fulfill it in any way that I can_ ," said Hogwarts.

" _Dobby wills too_ "

Trappy said, "We House Elves will do's what we cans to help Master Harry."

Harry said, "Thank you, all of you. I have a lot to learn and a lot to do. I need to remember all I can about what happened in the next few years. It seems that it might change so I better make a plan. First though, what do House Elves eat? I'm hungry."

 **AN: Let me know what you think. Thanks to e8rocks and El Pirato for their help.**


	2. Chapter 2

What The Chapter Two

Harry discovered that House Elves ate the same food as wizards, other than not liking anything too sweet. " _So much for Treacle tart_ ," lamented Harry. After finishing a house elf-sized English breakfast, Harry/Dobby made his way to the hospital wing to check in on his younger self. The House Elves' ability to travel unnoticed came in handy as he made his way through the halls in the early morning hours. Dobby had been quiet ever since Harry had yelled at him to ' _shut up!_ '. He was feeling quite guilty about it, but was enjoying the silence, which made him feel even more so. Harry entered the hospital wing and saw a familiar figure sleeping in a bed at the end of the room, "his" bed. He remembered the numerous occasions, past and future alike, that he wound up in that particular bed. There were other beds around the ward occupied by the several, petrified victims of the Basilisk. Harry knew that the Mandrake restorative draught would be ready later that day, so he wasn't too concerned. He approached his younger self, ' _Boy this is going to take some getting used to…'_ , and noticed the scar on his doppelgänger's head had healed more than he could ever remember. He set a silencing ward over the bed and called out quietly, "Hogwarts _…_ "

The female voice spoke in his head, " _Yes my son?"_

"You said that a piece of dark magic was destroyed in the huge magical discharge. Was it from the scar on my younger body?"

" _Indeed it was. It had the same feeling as the Diadem of Ravenclaw that is in my hidden room of need, the same as the diary Tom Riddle created in his sixth year; your younger self recently destroyed this. It was also the same as the Defense professor in your first year. Your younger body had a lesser feeling of this strange and abhorrent magic, until the incident which caused what you see before you_."

"So the Horcrux is gone?"

" _Yes, your younger body is free from the parasite that was attached to the scar_."

"That's a relief. I had no idea how to get it removed without dying again. I wanted to avoid that if possible and now I can, or my younger self can. We will have to watch the Headmaster though. He knew the scar was a Horcrux and still expects me to die."

" _I will keep you informed regarding his movements. We will have to find a way to let the Headmaster know at some point_."

"You're right, but not now."

" _Indeed. Someone is approaching the hospital wing, you should hide_."

Harry took down the silencing ward and hid in the shadows. A moment later, Ron made his way to the younger Harry's bed not noticing the Elf. Harry heard him say, "Thanks for saving my sister mate." Ron then moved to Hermione's bed and said something that Harry couldn't hear. The last stop that Ron made before he left was to his sister's bed. Harry didn't even notice that Ginny was in the hospital when he entered. He couldn't remember if she ever got any treatment for her ordeal in the previous time and decided to see what he could do for her. He knew that his feelings for her had changed in the last year, or five years from now, ' _Damn time travel_.' Anyway, he would help her out if he could. She was a friend even if he was no longer in love with her.

Harry watched as Ron left the hospital wing, and made his way to the seventh floor and the Room of Requirement, or as Hogwarts called it, the hidden room of need. He paced in front of the blank section of wall three times, and a door appeared. Opening it, Harry found a smaller copy of the Gryffindor dorm he had grown so fond of, the size of the room permitting only one bed instead of five. He slipped between the familiar sheets, and was asleep in moments.

It was ten hours later when he awoke. He didn't know how, but he knew that exactly ten hours had passed.

" _Its bes a part of House Elf magic that wes know wheres and whens wes is_." Dobby said in his head.

" _Dobby!"_

 _"_ _Yes Master Harry?"_

 _"_ _So you're still with me?"_

 _"_ _Yes Master Harry."_

 _"_ _Can you stop calling me master?"_

 _"_ _Yes Master Harry."_

 _"_ _Urrrgh!"_

 _"_ _Sorry Mas…Harry Potter sir."_

 _"_ _Try just Harry."_

 _"_ _Yes Harry Potter sir."_

Harry just gave up at this point, realizing that it was a losing battle. " _Dobby_?"

" _Yes Harry Potter sir."_

" _What should I do?"_

 _"_ _Dobby is nots knowin', Harry Potter sir."_

Harry called out, "Hogwarts!"

" _Yes my son?"_ said the female voice in his head.

"First, why do you keep calling me your son?"

" _I feel it is the right thing to call you_."

"Why?"

" _I am not sure, it simply feels like the right thing to do_."

"You feel?"

" _I do not believe the word means the same to you as it does to me, but yes, I feel_."

"Oh, alright. Do you have a name then? Or do you want to be called Hogwarts? I don't think I could call you Mother."

" _I don't have a name, but if you like it, you can call me…Sophia."_

"Why Sophia?"

" _It just…feels right_."

"Sure. Well Sophia, what do you think I should do?"

" _Only you know what you need to do_."

"Thanks for that." Harry said sarcastically. He heard a chuckle in his head. " _Great now the castle is making fun of me_."

Sophia spoke again, " _Why don't you tell me all that you remember happening to you in the last few years before you arrived up in the past?"_

"That's a good idea. It should help me plan my next move. First, this summer, Sirius Black escapes Azkaban. Most people thought he was a murderer and was after me, but he was really after Wormtail. WORMTAIL! He's in my dorm room right now! I have to go capture him right away!" Harry turned to go and then stopped. "But if I capture him right now, then Sirius won't see his picture in the paper and escape. Maybe if I take Peter to the Auror's they will give Sirius a trial? Then again, maybe not. I don't think they will believe a House Elf, and even if they do there is no guarantee that they will free Sirius. More than likely Fudge will sweep it under the rug. Dumbledore was no help the last time either. Maybe with Peter in hand…? But then I would have to explain myself and I'm not ready to do that yet. Oh damn, why is this so hard?" Harry kept rambling for a few more minutes before he came to a decision." OK, I'll leave Peter alone for now. Hopefully time hasn't changed too much and the Weasley's will still win the draw and get their pictures in the paper. I'll wait until my younger self meets up with them in Diagon Alley and capture him then. This means that I will have to let what happened at the Dursley's happen again too. After my younger self leaves though…"Harry said aloud for Sophia to hear.

" _And what of Sirius Black?"_

"If everything goes as it did last time, I'll know where he will be on the night I leave the Dursley's. Otherwise I will have to wait until he gets to Hogwarts…you …here."

" _Why not just meet him when he escapes?"_

"I'm not sure when he does and I have no idea where Azkaban even is."

" _I can tell you where it is. In fact, you should know_."

" _Dobby's old bad master has beens to Azkaban to visit sisters-in-laws before. Dobby knows wheres it bes, so Master Harry knows wheres it bes_."

Harry concentrated and he did indeed have a memory of the location of the wizarding prison. "OK, so I do know where it is. I'm still going to wait and see if things play out as they did before."

" _And your next step?"_ asked Sophia.

"I have to see if I can get into the Chamber of Secrets and collect some Basilisk venom. If not, I will have to steal Gryffindor's sword from the Headmaster's office. They are the only ways I know to destroy a Horcrux, other than Feindfire."

" _I know of another way_." Said Sophia.

"Really? How!?"

 _"_ _There is a ritual to create a Horcrux, and there is a ritual to destroy one. I can teach it to you, but it requires a wizards magic to perform. I do not believe that you as a House Elf will be able to perform the ritual. This might be a good time to bring the Headmaster in on this_."

"No, not yet. I know that he is a good man, but he loses sight of the small things too easily. There are also things that I have to do that he wouldn't approve of. I'm not saying that we won't inform him, but not right now. After I get to Sirius, and he recovers a bit, I will ask him to perform the ritual. He'll need a wand though."

" _There are many wands in my hidden room of need."_

"That should make thing easier. I wonder what else is in there that could prove useful?"

" _There are many broken and damaged items, but many can be repaired. There are also many unclaimed and lost items that are considered valuable. All of the lost Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts have found their way to the school's general fund. But whenever the Headmaster or the Board of Governors do not properly maintain my halls, I sometime have the House Elves repair the broken items and sell them in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. They use the funds to then provide whatever is required. We can do this for your needs too."_

"That should be really helpful. I don't want to involve my younger self if I can help it, and I don't know how I was going to pay for certain things I might need. I want to avoid Gringotts for now, but I will have to deal with them eventually. There is a Horcrux in one of their vaults."

" _That will prove most difficult to acquire_."

"It was."

" _What did you do the previous time?_ "

"Well we, Hermione, Ron and I, broke in with the help of a Goblin. He got us to the vault then betrayed us. We managed to escape on the back of a Dragon and came here. It was the same day as the last battle."

" _Harry Potter is the most brave, most noble, bestest wizard in the whole worlds_." Said Dobby in an overly excited voice in his head.

"I had a lot of help."

Sophia responded, " _I'm sure you did. I do not believe that you will be able to repeat this feat_."

"Probably not. The only reason the Goblin helped us was because Voldemort had already taken over the Ministry and was interfering with Gringotts. Plus we had to bribe him with Gryffindor's sword."

 _"_ _Yet he still betrayed you?"_

"He ran off with the sword before we could complete what we had to do, abandoning us as other Goblins showed up to attack us. He did get us to the vault though."

" _I have never dealt with Goblins before, not one has walked my halls_."

" _Old bad master hates Goblins. He always made Dobby punish himself when hes gets back from Gringy's_ "

" _I'm sorry to hear that Dobby. If I ever get a body and you get yours back, I promise to never make you punish yourself again_."

" _Master Harry Potter is the Bestest Ever! Dobby doesn't deserve such a good and caring Master."_

 _"_ _Easy Dobby, calm down_."

" _Yes Harry Potter sir_."

"Well, I guess I should check if I can get in the chamber now." Harry pictured himself in Moaning Myrtles bathroom, and a moment later he was there. He approached the sinks that hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and tried to open it. "Open." He said. It came out as English so he concentrated on the image of a snake and said "Open." English. He tried again. Several minutes later he gave up and accepted the fact that he was no longer a Parselmouth. ' _I wonder if my younger self can still speak to snakes now that the Horcrux is gone?_ '

" _Dobby is nots be knowin' Harry Potter sir_."

" _I wasn't asking… never mind. Dobby, you don't have to answer any of my questions unless I ask you directly. Sometime I like to think about things and I don't need an answer. If you weren't in my…your head it wouldn't be a problem. Can you do that?"_

' _Dobby wills try Harry Potter sir_."

" _That's all that I ask_." Harry then pictured himself outside the main door within the Chamber itself, and a moment later he could see the many carved snakes surrounding the ancient entrance to Salazar's most treasured secret. Just to be sure, he tried to open it again with Parseltounge. Like the sink, it didn't budge. Looking around the antechamber, he felt his House Elf instincts kick in, compelling him to clean up all the scattered bones and fallen debris around the Chamber. He fought the instinct but knew that it would bother him until he cleaned everything up. He made a promise to himself, and Dobby, that he would come back later and clean. Now was the moment of truth. It was time to see if the main chamber was protected from House Elves, or if he could get in. He thought of where he saw Ginny Weasley lying, looking lifeless and cold. After a shudder at the bad memory, he found himself in the exact spot. He immediately saw the body of the dead Basilisk and Dobby screamed in his head. " _Quiet Dobby."_ The elf quieted and Harry made his way to the corpse. " _So I can still get into the chamber, that's good. Hopefully if Hogwarts, Sophia, can get the ritual to work I might not have to destroy the founders' objects. It would be nice to display them in the school after old Voldie kicks the bucket_." Aloud Harry shouted, "Sophia!" Nothing happened so he tried again, "Sophia! Hogwarts?" Again nothing happened. Harry once again pictured himself in the Hogwarts kitchens and was there. He called out again, "Sophia."

" _Yes my son_?"

"Why didn't you answer me when I was in the chamber?"

" _I could not hear your call. You have to be under the castles wards for me to communicate with you and apparently thanks to Siad Slytherin, the Chamber of Secrets does not fall under my wards_."

"How is it that I can communicate with you at all? Why don't you talk to the Headmaster or someone else? Couldn't you have stopped many of the things that went wrong?" asked Harry

Sophia responded, " _Because of their bond,_ _I can communicate to all House Elves under my wards, as a House Elf, you are included in that. I have tried to prevent much of what has happened over the years but I was thwarted. Several hundred years ago I communicated directly to the Headmaster's; I was a little voice in the back of their heads that let them know what was going on within my borders. This had worked for several years after I gained sentience, and the Headmasters listened, even if they just thought that it was the wards warning them. Then, one year, a Headmaster started to act in an… inappropriate manner with young students, young male students. He also let other students and teachers take advantage of the younger ones, so I was practically shouting in his ears. He ignored me and kept doing what he wanted, but he grew annoyed at my insistence, and transferred the control of the wards to a device in the Headmaster's office, instead of being connected to them himself. From then on, I tried to stop what I could, and used the House Elves to try and stop the worst of it. The Headmaster then ordered the Elves to ignore my voice, and not interfere with the students. It was several years before the Elves started to listen to me again when a future Headmaster ordered them to pay attention to the needs of the castle. The Elves still were under orders to not help any of the students so they couldn't do much. No Headmaster has reattached themselves to the wards so I cannot communicate with them_."

"That's awful. Who was the Headmaster?"

" _Phineas Nigelus Black_."

"Figures. He always seemed like a creep to me."

" _You have no idea how twisted he actually was. He was quietly let go when his actions were discovered by the parents of a pureblood student_."

"Damn blood supremacy. I bet nobody would have done anything if it was a muggle born."

" _You are correct. He was caught several times before, but nothing ever happened until a pureblood was involved."_

"Bastard. I'm going to destroy his portrait the next time I'm at Grimmauld place. I should anyway so Dumbledore doesn't know that Sirius and I are going to be there."

" _If you destroy the portrait, it will alert the Headmaster that there is someone at Grimmauld Place. Since you are a House Elf, you could just remove it from the wall and place it in an unused room. If the portrait is no longer attached to a wall, it can't travel to other portraits in the house. It will still be able to travel to its other portrait here_."

"Really? That seems surprisingly easy. Do you have any control of the portraits in the castle?"

" _I can see anything that the portraits do, but I have no control over them. They are not tied into my wards even if they are hanging on my walls_."

"Oh, OK. So you can see what goes on in the Headmaster's office? What else can you do?"

" _Yes I can. I also control all entrances and exits, I know where everyone and everything is within my halls and grounds, and can control the severity of the wards when they are activated. I cannot activate them on my own though_."

"Well what if you had a body? Could the wards be tied to you, would that give you control?"

" _I've asked that question several times over the centuries; there have even been experiments to create a body along with the means to connect me to it, until Headmaster Black removed me from direct communication_."

"By whom? Did any of them work?"

" _The first attempt was in 1185 by an ancestor of Riddle named Darius Slytherin and his twin brother Damascus. All of the attempts were unsuccessful but several branches of magic were discovered. The Sorting Hat is an example of one of the attempts. It was enchanted by the original founders, but was not able to speak until one of their ancestors started their experiments. Many of the suits of armor around my halls are other failed experiments. Did you ever wonder why some speak and some do not_?"

"I never really thought about it. How close did the experiments come to getting you a body? Could they be used to help me and Dobby?"

" _Dobby likes that Master Harry is with Dobby_." Said the elf.

" _I know that Dobby, but I would like to have my own body, not borrow yours. You deserve a life of your own_."

" _Sadly, none of the experiments worked for me, but I don't know if they would or would not do anything for your situation. The most successful attempt resulted in the creation of Peeves. Before he was a poltergeist, he was a regular ghost. I do not know what was done to make him corporeal, but do you want to spend the rest of your time as a poltergeist_?"

"No way, especially if it makes me as crazy as Peeves. I'll have to find another way... wait, is it possible to create a body by conjuring one?"

 _"_ _And trade your magic for a body? It was the one reason the Slytherin brothers stopped their original experiment. The eldest_ _twin brother, Damascus_ _was turned into a Squib. It was kept a secret, but he never regained his magic and the conjured body only lasted two days."_

"That's terrible. Ok, so no conjured bodies. Did anything else come close?"

" _Nothing that will help in your situation_."

"Too bad… I wonder where I am right now?"

 _"_ _You are standing in my kitchens_."

"I mean my younger self. These terms are going to drive me crazy."

" _Your younger self is still in the hospital wing. I have overheard Madame Pomfrey say that he will stay there for one more day. He will be released with all the other patients after they have been given the Mandrake restorative draught. Soon they all will wake, and they will be kept for observation overnight_."

"That's good to hear. Tell me about the ritual. I know that I can't perform it but I still want to learn. I will have to teach it to Sirius after all."

" _As you wish my son. Please go the hidden room of need and I will provide you the information, along with an old secret one of my mother's children made me keep_."

"How can you tell me it if you were sworn to secrecy?"

" _The same feeling that has me calling you son also lets me feel that telling you will not violate my oath. I do not know how else to explain it."_

"That's weird, but anything that will help is most appreciated."


	3. Chapter 3

What The Chapter Three

Harry was right; leaving the mess in the Chamber of Secrets did continue to bother him. After checking in on his younger self in the hospital wing after everyone had gone to sleep, he found himself back in the Chamber. House elf magic came in handy for cleaning up the mess, he just focused on vanishing the bones and they disappeared. He stabilized the cave-in and cleared all of the fallen stones. He did wonder where everything went when he vanished it, but let the thought go. It took him about three hours, with Dobby giving him advice and encouragement, and lastly hung the Basilisk skin artfully in the outer chamber wall. He left the inner chamber for later; he wasn't sure what to do with the Basilisk itself just yet. He made it back to the Room of Requirement and created the Gryffindor dorm again. He only slept for four hours before he woke. Dobby explained that this was the normal amount of time that House Elves slept.

He once again found himself in the Hogwarts kitchens talking to the head Elf. "Trappy, I think that I will need some of your guys' help over the summer. Can you leave Hogwarts?"

"Yes Master Harry, we cans."

"That's good. I will need all the help I can get to clean out Sirius's old place. It has gone to seed over the years. The first time I saw it, it was still filthy and over-run by pests. And that was after it had been partially cleaned already."

Harry saw a gleam in Trappy's eye at the possibility of cleaning such a mess. "Trappy bes most happy to help Master Harry Potter cleans. Should Trappy goes there now?"

"Not yet. I don't know if I can get in at the moment. The place belongs to my Godfather and I should wait until he is with me to go there. I have to claim something that is at the property, and I am not ready to do so yet. There is also a House Elf there that has gone a little crazy."

"Theres bes a House Elf thats lets masters place bes dirty?"

Harry saw the horrified look on Trappy's face and said, "I think it is just following the order of its last mistress. There is a portrait of the woman and she is very foul."

"It still bes not right."

"Well with your help, we will make it right, just not right now."

"Yes Master Harry."

Thinking of the mess that he knew existed Grimmauld place, was in brought back the nagging need to clean it up. He shoved that feeling down and called out for- "Sophia."

" _Yes my son_?"

"Where is my younger self right now? We also need to come up with something else to call him. Saying my younger self will drive me crazy."

 _"_ _How about Jr.?"_

"Jr., I like it."

" _Jr. is in the Gryffindor common room_."

"Is he alright? What's he doing?"

" _He is well. He is talking to his friends about what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, and to Lucius Malfoy_."

"I almost forgot about that. That didn't happen last time. I wonder what will change because of it? What's going on with Draco?"

" _The young Malfoy has left the school."_

"Really?"

" _Yes, his mother came and took him away after the Aurors completed their primary investigation_."

"An investigation, what did they find? Am I… Jr. in any trouble?"

" _I can only report what was said in the castle."_

"Well, what was said?"

" _It was determined that Lucius Malfoy did cast the killing curse on your younger body, and that it rebounded, killing him. Jr.'s wand was checked and some borderline dark curses were found_."

"That must have been when Tom Riddle had my wand."

" _That is what the Headmaster had claimed also, but he did not mention the shade of Tom Riddle."_

"Figures."

" _Indeed, the Aurors took both wands but promised to return Jr.'s after they interview him. I believe that they will be here tomorrow to conduct the interview. The Headmaster insisted on being present_."

"That's good. He should be able to straighten it out. He knows the importance of the twin cores even though, hopefully, it won't come to that. I hope to stop Voldemort way before it becomes a factor. Let me know when the Aurors arrive please. In fact, let me know whenever the Headmaster wants to talk to me, Jr. I mean. Also let me know if he is talking about Jr."

" _I will."_

"Actually, I had another question for you."

" _If I can answer it, I will_."

"Do you know what will happen to Voldemort's soul, spirit… whatever, when I destroy all the Horcruxes?"

" _From what I understand of the magic involved in Horcruxes, his spirit will fade away, unless it is housed in a container_."

"Like if he possesses another person or an animal?"

" _Yes. If he is currently possessing someone or something else then his spirit will remain. The good news, if I am correct, is that if whatever form he is in is then destroyed, he will pass on_."

"That would be great."

" _It is only what I believe, with the information that I have. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not_."

"I'm going to believe that you are right. Do you know any way to tell if he has been completely destroyed?"

" _You know that there is a prophecy involving you and the Dark Lord?"_

"Yes, I found out about it in my fifth year."

" _Then you know about the Hall of Prophecy in the Ministry?"_

"Yeah, I went there with some friends, but it was a trap. Sirius…Sirius died trying to save me. The prophecy orb was destroyed." A little tear escaped Harry's eye as the painful memory resurfaced. He even heard Dobby give a sob in his head.

" _The prophecy orb should still be in the chamber. If the prophecy has been fulfilled, it should go dark. If you can get into the Hall of Prophecy after all the Horcruxes have been destroyed, it might be a way to tell if you were successful in vanquishing Voldemort."_

"That sounds like a good idea, I'll see what I can do. Sophia…?"

" _Yes my son?"_

"I… I might have to do some bad things to keep the future that I experienced from happening. Will that make me a bad person?"

 _"_ _I cannot judge. I do not have what you would call a human sense of morality. What was instilled in me by the founders is a sense of protectiveness toward my charges and what was deemed moral at the time of my creation."_

"That was during feudal times, right?"

" _Yes. It was a more violent time and justice was often carried out at the end of a sword or wand. I feel that almost all actions are justified if in the service of protecting the innocent. I cannot tell you if this will make you a good or a bad person. Only you can determine how your actions will affect you_."

"I know that certain people need to be stopped. Their actions last time led to the death of so many innocent people, but… I don't know if I am strong enough to do what needs to be done."

" _When the time comes, you will find out_."

" _Dobby believes ins Master Harry Potter. Dobby knows that's Master Harry Potter wills protect the innocents. Master Harry Potter bes champion ofs innocents_."

" _Thanks Dobby. And what did I say about calling me master?"_

 _"_ _Sorry ma… Harry Potter sir."_

 _"_ _I'm not mad at you Dobby. I just don't like being called master. I would rather you call me friend."_

 _"_ _Friend!? Harry Potter sirs be calling Dobby friend? Dobby bes not worthy of being great Harry Potters sirs friend."_ Harry could hear Dobby crying in his head.

" _Don't cry Dobby_." the elf stopped at the unintentional command. " _You were my friend before and you are my friend now_."

Thinking about his friendship with Dobby from his past, the future, Harry was reminded of the day that Dobby died. There was a gasp in his head as Dobby said " _Dobby dies protecting Harry Potter_!"

" _Damn! I didn't want you to see that. I'm sorry Dobby. I'm going to make sure it never comes to that."_

 _"_ _Dobby proud to dies in protection of Harry Potter sirs. Dobby sees that Harry Potter sirs bury Dobby hes selfs, by hands. No House Elves bes given such great honor. Dobby knows that Harry Potter sirs bes greatest wizard in the worlds, Harry Potter sirs also bes the kindest toos_."

" _It was the least I could do, for such a brave friend_."

" _Dobby bes luckiest House Elf in da worlds_."

Hogwarts could tell that Harry was having a conversation in his head with Dobby even if she couldn't hear it and took this time to make herself known once more. " _The headmaster has just sent for Jr.. Do you wish for me to relay what they discuss, or do you want to be there yourself?"_

"If I go myself, will I be able to remain hidden, even from the Headmaster?"

" _There is a spot in the Headmasters office that is hidden from view. It's secluded and your House Elf abilities will provide you with adequate protection from discovery_."

"He won't detect my magic or something?"

" _It is doubtful. Even if he does, like most wizards, the Headmaster will ignore the presence of a House Elf_."

"Ok, I'll go myself. If I'm caught though, I'm blaming you."

" _Yes my son. Might I suggest changing into the same uniform as the other Hogwarts House Elves before you go."_

Harry looked down and noticed that he was still wearing the same dirty pillow case that Dobby had on when he was freed. He looked around and noticed that all the other House Elves where wearing a tea towel with the Hogwarts emblem as a toga. " _I'll have to look into what other House Elves wear so I won't be suspected when I go out. I think, like the Goblins, wizards don't pay any attention to what the house elves look like and wouldn't be able to tell one apart from another_."

" _Yous bes right Harry Potter sir. Dobby bes always referred tos as Elf when hes doin jobs for old bad master_."

" _That could come in handy. Now how do I get a tea towel?"_

Harry ended up asking Trappy for a towel, and had an embarrassing moment when Trappy vanished the pillow case before replacing it with the tea towel. For a moment there Harry was left naked in all his House Elf glory. Dobby didn't understand his master's embarrassment, House Elves had no problem with nudity, the tea towels or pillow cases were just an outward sign that they had a master or belonged someplace. This didn't help Harry, as he blushed as much as a House Elf could.

When Harry regained his composure, he popped into the Headmasters office to the spot that Sophia mentioned. It seemed that not only did he know every inch of the castle and the grounds, but he was also able to go to any spot that Sophia sent to his mind. He arrived about five minutes before his younger self with a small pop. The spot that he was in was a corner by Fawkes' perch, behind the Headmasters desk. The Phoenix stared at him for a few moments when he first arrived, then ignored him. " _I guess Pheonix's, like wizards, ignore House Elves too_." Dumbledore also paid him no heed.

Looking around, Harry noticed many of the delicate silver instruments that he destroyed at the end of his fifth year were still whole and resting upon the spindly table that he had also destroyed. Not much else had changed over the years that he had been to this office. The Sorting Hat was sitting quietly on the shelf, and Harry remembered pulling the sword from its depths. He wondered what else might be hidden in the hat, he would have to check with Sophia about that later. One thing that he did notice from his vantage point, was that something lit up on the underside of the Headmasters desk, and some form of writing was on it. The writing was too small for Harry to make out, and a moment later the Headmaster said aloud, "Come in Harry."

Harry froze for a moment wondering if he was caught. Then his younger self walked through the door. " _So that's how he always knows who's at his door before they knock_."

Harry still wasn't used to seeing his younger body and just stared. "You wanted to see me Headmaster?" said Jr..

"Yes I did. Firstly, I will assure you, you are not in any trouble." Harry saw his younger self visibly relax and Dumbledore continued, "What can you tell me of what happened between you and Mr. Malfoy when you left my office two nights ago?"

"Well… after Mr. Malfoy left, without getting caught for causing all the troubles this year, I wanted to do something. I remembered all the times that his House Elf Dobby had tried to help me out over the year, even if they were all disasters, and I wanted to do something for him. If it upset Mr. Malfoy, all the better. I remembered that House Elves needed to be given clothes to be freed, so I took off my sock and put around Tom's diary. You remember the diary , right?"

"Indeed I do."

"Well, I shoved the diary in Mr. Malfoys hand, knowing that he would do something to get rid of the slimy thing. Lucky for me, he tossed it at Dobby who caught it. When he realized what he did he attacked me."

"He shot the killing curse at you over the simple thing of freeing his House Elf?"

"No, not at first. He lunged at me, but Dobby did something that sent him crashing into the wall. When he stood up, he drew his wand. I thought that Dobby might protect me again but he seemed to freeze up. The next thing I know there is a green spell flying at me, and I woke up in the hospital wing, again. What happened to Dobby? Is he alright?"

Harry heard Dobby say, " _Best master ever_.", in his head.

"The House Elf seemed fine. I had the Hogwarts elves take care of him."

"That's good. Do you know what happened after?"

"Apparently your mother's protection still runs through your veins. The killing curse that Mr. Malfoy sent at you was, once again, rebounded. It caused a massive magical explosion, and Mr. Malfoy was killed."

"So I killed another man…? Just like professor Quirrel..."

"No my boy, you have not killed anyone. Their deaths were caused by their own actions. Professor Quirrel was already a dead man when you faced him. All that you did was destroy the shell that once housed him. Mr. Malfoy was killed by his own spell. You did not attack him and his death is on his own head."

"But I provoked him."

"Harry. Mr. Malfoy was an adult that decided to try and kill an unarmed twelve year old boy. There is no justification, no matter how provoked, for that response.

"I guess." Harry could see his younger self's doubt still lingering, which brought up his fears of whether he would be able to do what needed to be done again.

Dumbledore continued, "We must all take responsibility for our own actions in this life. It is not our responsibility to do so for others."

Harry had to laugh inside at this statement, coming from the man who spent most of his time trying to do just that, especially regarding his younger self. These words did seem to have a calming effect on the young Harry though.

"What happens now? And do you know where my wand is?"

"Your wand was taken by the Aurors…" Dumbledore paused at Harry Jr.'s confused expression. "Aurors are the wizarding worlds version of police men." Dumbledore continued when he saw that Harry understood. "They confiscated your, and Mr. Malfoy's, wand for their investigation. I have been assured that it will be returned to you tomorrow when they come to interview you."

"That's a relief. What should I tell them when they interview me?"

"I often find, that the truth is the simplest thing."

Harry had to stifle another laugh at that statement coming from Dumbledore.

"Well, yeah. I mean about what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. I don't want to get Ginny in trouble. It wasn't her fault."

"Yes, that does complicate matters. I would advise that you only answer questions about what happened between you and Mr. Malfoy. I will be there and if they ask about anything that happened before, I will take care of it."

"Thank you Headmaster."

"Not a problem, my boy. Now off you go. There is going to be a special feast tonight to celebrate the passing of this crisis and the return of the petrified students and our grounds keeper."

"Hagrid!?"

"Yes, he will be returning to the castle this evening."

"Headmaster, Hagrid was innocent of opening the chamber fifty years ago."

"I know. I did not believe that he did it then either."

"But he was expelled for no reason then. Isn't there anything that can be done for him?"

"I will see what I can do. Off with you now."

Jr. left and Harry popped back to the kitchens. Harry thought that not much would be done for Hagrid, especially with the Ministry and the Board of Governors the way they are. Maybe now that Lucius is no longer on the Board, and bribing the Minister, some good things might happen. Hagrid did become a teacher next year after all. Harry wondered if Hagrid would be teaching again. " _If he does, I'll have to watch his first year classes. I don't want another repeat of Buckbeak."_


	4. Chapter 4

What The Chapter Four

The Aurors arrived around lunchtime the following day, and Harry Jr. was once again called to the Headmaster's office. Harry found himself in the same spot, within the Headmasters office, that he had used to spy before. Harry recognized the two Aurors as Kingsley Shackelbolt and Nymphadora Tonks. Seeing Nymphadora again brought a fresh wave of sadness, remembering her lifeless body during the final battle. This also brought the memory of Remus Lupin and his son, Harry's godson, Teddy Lupin. Harry wondered about what happened to himself when he came back in time. He remembered listening to the Dursley's TV when Dudley watched a science fiction show that was about time travel and other universes. Harry wondered if maybe Teddy was alive and well in another universe, or if he had ceased to exist. This also brought up the thought that if he was changing the past, maybe Tonks and Lupin would never get together and Teddy would never be born. All these thought were giving Harry a headache that was finally ended when his younger self walked into the office.

"Come in Harry," called out Dumbledore, before Harry Jr. even had a chance to knock on the door. Harry now knew the secret to the Headmaster's seemingly magical ability to tell who was at the door before they knocked. Jr. entered the office and made his way nervously to the Headmaster's desk, and the awaiting Aurors. "Take a seat my boy."

"Thank you Headmaster."

"No need to be nervous my boy. These are two of the Ministry's finest. The gentleman before you is Kingsley Shackelbolt."

Kingsley nodded to Harry and said, "Hello."

Dumbledore then introduced the other Auror. "And this is his trainee, Nymphadora Tonks."

Tonks gave a glare to the Headmaster, then turned to Jr and said "Wotcher, and it's just Tonks."

Harry noticed the twinkle in Dumbledore's eye increase when he said Tonks's first name and knew that the Headmaster liked to rile the Metamorphmagus up by using her hated name. It was fun to see the color of Tonks's hair change with her emotions, and Jr. seemed to have the usual reaction witnessing her abilities. His eyes hadn't left Tonks's hair yet.

Tonks seemed to notice Harry Jr.'s staring, and cycled her hair through all the colors of the rainbow. This made Jr.'s eyes bulge out and Tonks gave a little laugh. "I'm a Metamorphmagus." At Jr.'s blank look, she continued, "It means that I can change my appearance at will." To make her point, she changed her nose to that of a pig's snout.

"Wow." Was all Jr. could say. Harry had to admit that seeing Tonks perform her tricks was very impressive, and remembered the first time that he saw it. He wondered if the look on Jr.'s face was the same one he had then.

Dumbledore used this moment to continue his introductions. "Yes, it is a wonderful, if rare talent to be sure. Now that everyone is here, I believe you had a few questions for our young Mr. Potter here, Shackelbolt?"

"Yes, right. First, Mr. Potter, can you tell us what happened three nights ago outside the Headmasters office with Mr. Malfoy?" asked the Auror.

Jr. looked to the Headmaster who just nodded. "Umm…I followed Mr. Malfoy out of the Headmasters office after he came to question why Dumbledore was back at the school after he has been let go because of the Chamber of Secrets incident…"

Jr. looked again to Dumbledore, who said, "That has already been discussed, go on."

"Well, Mr. Malfoy had a House Elf that tried to help me out during the year."

Kingsley interrupted at this. "Mr. Malfoy's House Elf tried to help you?"

"Yeah, he warned me that bad things were going to happen at Hogwarts this year. I didn't believe him until the Chamber of Secrets was opened."

Kingsley turned to Dumbledore and asked, "Do you believe that Mr. Malfoy was involved with what happened at Hogwarts this year?"

Dumbledore replied, "I have no proof one way or the other."

Harry heard Tonks mutter, "Good thing that slimy snake bit it if he did." She wasn't quite quiet enough and Kingsley and Dumbledore gave her reproachful looks. Jr. just smiled, and so did Harry.

"Yes, well, we will have to look into that," said Shackelbolt. "Go on."

Jr. continued, "Ummm, well, I wanted to do something for the poor guy. It was obvious that he was being abused. So, I took the diary from the Headmaster's desk and wrapped one of my socks around it."

"What diary?" Shackelbolt asked, interrupting Jr. again.

"I will explain its significance later." replied Dumbledore. Harry had a strong suspicion that the word Horcrux would not be part of that discussion. "Continue my boy."

"OK. Well I followed Mr. Malfoy out and put the sock covered diary in his hand hoping that he would toss it to Dobby, that's the Elf's name. Anyway he did as I had hoped and threw away the sock, and Dobby caught it. This made him a little upset." Tonks snorted. "He lunged at me and I think Dobby did something to him because he flew into the wall. When he got up he pulled his wand and fired a spell at me. That was the last thing that I remember."

Kingsley asked, "You never fired a spell?"

"No sir."

Kingsley pulled a wand from inside his robes and Harry recognized it as his -Jr.'s- Holly and Phoenix feather wand. "There were some borderline dark curses used by this wand. This is yours, is it not Mr. Potter?"

"Yes sir, but-" Jr. looked to the Headmaster again, who nodded. "It was taken from me in the Chamber of Secrets. The last spell I remember using was a Winguardium Leviosa to clear some rocks from my path."

Dumbledore interrupted at this. "We are not here to discuss what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, but to determine if young Harry here had anything to do with the tragic death of Lucius Malfoy." There was another snort heard from Tonks. "Was there any sign that Harry cast any spells on Mr. Malfoy?"

"No." replied Kingsley.

"And it was determined that he was killed by his own rebounded spell?"

"Yes."

"So there should be no issue in returning Mr. Potter's wand."

Kingsley eyed the Headmaster with a look that said 'we will be talking about this later', he then turned to Jr. and handed him his wand. "You are a most extraordinary young man Mr. Potter. You have apparently survived two killing curses, try not to see if the third time's the charm." Jr. took his wand and Kingsley continued. "There will be no charges filed against you, but this incident will be sure to raise your profile."

Jr. groaned, and then turned to Tonks. "Can you teach me to be a Metaporphmagus?"

"Sorry kiddo. You're either born one or you're not."

"Damn." replied Jr., and all three adults chuckled.

Dumbledore said, "Kingsley, Nymphadora," Tonks hair flashed red again. " It was a pleasure. Harry, please stay for a moment."

Kingsley and Tonks left from the Headmaster's floo, and Harry noticed that not once did they question what Dobby did to Malfoy, and never asked to hear Dobby's side of the tale. ' _I guess wizards really don't give second thoughts to what a House Elf has to say_." This also made him think about what happened to Winky after the World Cup. ' _That reminds me. I have to get Barty Crouch Jr. caught before he can do any damage. If I remember right, he doesn't break free from his father's control until next summer. Maybe if I plan it right, it might help with getting Sirius a trial…'_

Harry thoughts were interrupted by Jr. asking, "Did I do OK?"

"You did fine my boy."

"I had to bring up the Chamber of Secrets though. I thought that you didn't want me talking about that."

"It could not be avoided. I was proud of the way you handled the situation. The two Aurors that led the investigation have my utmost trust, and I had no problem with you discussing the Chamber."

"So you're not mad that I mentioned the diary?"

"No my boy, I'm not mad."

Harry saw Jr.'s shoulders relax. He remembered that, at this age, he thought that Dumbledore was a larger than life persona, and that he wouldn't want to disappoint him. Time sure had changed Harry's opinion of the man. He knew that Dumbledore was a good man, relatively. He just had a habit of not taking other people into consideration when he made his plans. If sacrifices had to be made for the 'Greater Good', then he would sacrifice anyone and anything. He also had a bad habit of not sharing vital information with those that need it. Harry wondered how much easier his last year would have been if Dumbledore had shared just a little bit more information. The memories of Riddle's past were interesting, and they did help, but it could have been done in one or two visits. It didn't have to take a whole year to learn what he did. The simple information of how to destroy the Horcruxes would have saved him, Hermione, and Ron so much of the grief that they had with Slytherin's locket.

"Is Draco going to be OK?" Jr. asked out of the blue.

Dumbledore smiled at this question. "He will recover. The loss of a parent, no matter the age, will leave scars on those left behind. He will mourn, and then heal."

"Will he be coming back to Hogwarts?"

"I do not believe that he will return for the term, if he returns next year… we will have to wait and see. Do not worry, there is no reason for young Mr. Malfoy to blame you."

"He never needs a reason." Jr. said, and Harry thought it at the same time.

"I'm sure that all will be fine.", said the Headmaster. "Is there anything else that you would like to discuss?"

"No sir."

"Then off with you. Like I mentioned at the feast last night, the end of term exams have been canceled, so you have some free time to enjoy yourself."

Jr. left the Headmaster's office, and Harry popped back to the kitchens. He called out, "Sophia."

" _I am here, my son_."

"Did you hear what just went on in the Headmaster's office?"

" _Yes_."

"What do you think."

" _It is as you suspected. He made no mention of Tom Riddle or the Horcrux diary. Before you entered his office he was discussing the possibility of the two Aurors joining him in his group, 'The Order of the Phoenix'_."

"What did they say? They both joined last time."

" _They were hesitant, but when Dumbledore mentioned that Mad-Eye Moody was part of the group, they seemed to seriously take it into consideration. Shackelbolt said that he would talk to Mad-Eye, and Tonks seemed to be willing to do whatever he did_."

"I wonder if Dumbledore recruited them this early last time…?"

" _I have no way of knowing_."

"I didn't… never mind. What do you think about Draco Malfoy?"

" _I have no opinion_."

"Well I do. He's a huge git. We'll have to watch him if he comes back to the school next year."

" _I can easily do so_."

"Good. Now do you have any information on how to harvest a Basilisk?"

" _I know of several books that mention harvesting dangerous creatures. I will provide them to you in my hidden room of need_."

"Thanks. Is there anywhere to store the parts so they don't go bad?"

 _"_ _Again, my hidden room of need. Just think of a room that can be used to store the parts, and it will appear_."

"That's handy. Will the other House Elves be able to help me render the Basilisk down?"

" _All of the House Elves under my care also recognize you as their master_."

"I know that, but what does it mean? Can they help or not?"

" _It means that they will follow your orders, and will help you do anything that you know how to do_."

"So if I know how to render the basilisk…?"

" _They will know how to as well_."

"Cool. But didn't you say that they had to follow the Headmaster's orders over your own?"

" _When you bonded to me through Dobby, that changed. The House Elves now follow your instruction over all others. The Headmaster was once considered the top authority in the castle, but no longer. The House Elves still have to follow the orders of the Headmaster, or any other teacher, but now you have the greatest authority. You have the ability to overrule anything the teachers order, including the Headmaster_."

"Really?"

" _Yes_."

"Nice. Does this mean that I can order the House Elves to ignore the past Headmasters' orders? Can I order them to Listen to you now, and watch out for all the students?"

" _Yes_."

"OK. Trappy!"

"Yes Master Harry Potter.", said the Elf as he popped into existence next to Harry.

"Trappy, I want you and any Hogwarts Elves to listen to, and follow every order that Hogwarts gives you, even if it goes against another order that a Headmaster had, or will give, you or any other Elf. Can you do that?"

"Trappy cans and Trappy will bes happy to."

"Good. I will probably need your help in the Chamber of Secrets soon. I will call you when I need you, you can go back to what you were doing."

"Yes Master Harry Potter.", said the Elf, before he popped back out of existence to continue whatever he was doing before Harry called.

" _Thank you, my son_."

"Do what you can to protect the students."

" _I will."_

"Good. I'm going to learn about rendering down the Basilisk for parts now. Let me know if anything happens."

" _Yes, my son_."

Early the next morning after, Harry got his four hours of sleep, he made his way back to the castle's kitchen. Ever since Harry had merged with Dobby, he felt the most comfortable in the company of other Elves. Food appeared before him the moment that he sat down, at the small table in the kitchens that he will have spent many hours at with his friends in the coming years, or the past few years. "Damn time travel.", he mumbled. "Thank you!" He called out loud to whichever Elves had provided him with his breakfast. The plates disappeared as soon as he finished eating, the fork vanishing from his hand the moment he took the last bite. This shocked him a bit, but let it go.

"Sophia."

" _Yes, my son."_

"Is anything happening in the castle?"

" _The students and teachers are wandering my halls. No unusual circumstances. I had the House Elves stop two fights between several students, and had them get rid of several dangerous potions that were in the possession of a few others_."

"Really? What did the Elves do to stop the fight, and what kind of potions did they confiscate?"

 _"_ _Two sixth year Slytherins were sending hexes at a Gryffindor third year. I had the Elves disarm the Slytherins, and I opened a door for the Gryffindor to escape. I also trapped the Slytherin's in the hallway until the Gryffindor could get away_."

"So the Slytherins got away with it?"

" _I am obliged to protect the students. I am not obliged to punish them_."

"OK, I understand. If it is at all possible, can you try to get the guilty party caught by a teacher or something? So that way, they will be punished for their actions, so long as what they are doing is harmful to another student." Harry thought of all the pranks that the twins pulled over the years, and wondered how many of them they would get away with now. "If you are not sure what qualifies as harmful to other students, you can ask me."

" _Yes, my son_."

"What was the other fight you broke up?"

" _A group of six Ravenclaw girls, from years one to three, were picking on a first year Ravenclaw girl. They were hexing her, also taking her clothes and hiding them_."

"Really, what did you do?" Harry wondered if the first year was Luna Lovegood. He knew that she was picked on by her house mates in the past and that they hid her things. Harry swore to put a stop to it this time around.

" _I had a House Elf create a disturbance down the hall from where they were attacking the student. The Girls ran when they heard the noise, and I had the House Elf return her things. I also had the Elves collect all her things that had been hidden over the year, and return them to her trunk. I did this for other students' possessions as well_."

"How much stuff was lost over the year? What do you normally do with it?"

" _Several items are lost or misplaced over the school year, some of it being hidden by other students. Because of the previous Headmasters' orders, the House Elves could not interfere and return the stolen or lost items. I had the items stay where they were located while the student was still in my halls. When they graduate or leave the school for the last time, I had the House Elves move the items to my hidden room of need, in the room of lost things_."

"OK, I want you to return the lost or stolen items whenever you come across them from now on."

" _I have already have started to do this."_

"Good. Was the first year Ravenclaw's name Luna Lovegood?"

" _Yes, my son."_

"The last time around she was bullied by her own housemates. I want you to look out for her if you can."

" _I will look out for all the students under my charge_.", said Sophia in an angry tone in Harry's head.

"I meant no offense. I just remember her, specifically, from my last time around."

Back to her normal calm tone, Sophia said, " _I understand. You have a personal interest in her care. I will watch out for her, along with all the other students_."

"Thank you. What's up with the potions you confiscated? Let me guess, some came from a set of Gryffindor fourth years." Harry said, thinking about the Weasley twins.

" _There were several potions in the Gryffindor fourth year dorm, but they were not deemed harmful enough for me to get involved. I confiscated several love potions from many fifth, sixth and seventh year students from all houses, and one third year Ravenclaw. I also confiscated three poison vials from a seventh year Ravenclaw, and a badly brewed vial of Felix Felicis from a sixth year Hufflepuff. If the person who had brewed that potion drank it, they would have died_."

"Have any of the love potions been used on a student?"

" _Three students are currently under the effects of a love potion_."

"Is there anything that you can do for them?"

" _I do not believe that there is anything I can do for them."_

"Can you send an anonymous note to Madame Pomfrey or something? Maybe she can do something to flush it out of their systems."

" _I cannot write a note, but if you write it, I can have a House Elf deliver it to her_."

"OK, I'll do that.", said Harry, and a House Elf popped right in front of him with a piece of parchment, ink, and quill. Harry wrote the note with the names of the students that Sophia provided him. The Elf popped away to deliver the note, and Harry spoke again, "Who had the poison?"

" _A seventh year Ravenclaw, named Stanley March_."

"Do you know why he had the poison?"

" _I do not."_

"OK, that's a little disturbing, but he will be leaving in the next two weeks when the term ends, and he won't be our responsibility then. I wonder if he became a Death Eater the last time around?"

" _I do not know_."

"Is there any way for you to keep track of students after they leave the castle?"

" _I have no way to follow the students after they leave my grounds. The House Elves can leave and talk to other Elves. They might have a way to keep track of former students."_

"That could come in handy. I'll have to look into that. Keep up the good work and let me know what Madame Pomfrey does with the potioned students please."

" _Yes, my son."_


	5. Chapter 5

What The Chapter Five

The last two weeks of term went by smoothly. Draco Malfoy never returned for the end of the term, and Harry wondered if he would come back the next year. The future had already changed, and Harry hoped that certain things would still happen like they did last time; so he could do what he needed to do. If too much had changed it would be much harder, but Harry would still do what he had to do. It was too important to let things happen like they did last time. The three students made their way to the hospital wing and were treated with the flushing potion. There were several loud and embarrassing confrontations after they were free from the influence of the love potions. Two of the effected students were seventh year male students, their potioneers were trying to get themselves a wealthy husband to support them and were hoping to get pregnant so they would be forced to marry them. The women were tested and found not to be pregnant so the DMLE wasn't contacted, even with the threat of line theft charges bandied about. Harry made sure that rumors of their actions were spread all over the school and their social standing was ruined. The other case of love potioning involved a fifth year girl that was potioned by a sixth year. Unfortunately the sixth year had taken advantage of the fifth year girl, who was now crying in the hospital and refused to come out. The Headmaster had been informed and decided to not contact the authorities, instead choosing to handle the situation in house. He asked, not even demanded, that the sixth year not to come back next year, other than that there was no punishment. Harry wondered how much the fact that the sixth year was a pureblood and the victim was a halfblood had to do with it. Harry made sure to remember the sixth years name, Basil Everheart, and added him to his list of people that he wanted the House Elves to keep track of. If he ever heard of him doing something similar… well, he wasn't quite sure what he would do, but he vowed to do something. If he still decided to come back next year, Harry would make his life a living hell. Harry also promised himself that he would take care of the victim in any way that he could. His first step was to 'anonymously' pay for a mind healer from St. Mungos, the same that he was arranging for Ginny.

Harry had talked to Trappy to see if House Elves had a way to keep track of people, and learned that they had their own form of tracking spell that they could apply to a person or thing that wouldn't be discovered by a normal wizard scan. In fact, most of the House Elves magic couldn't be detected unless it was searched for deliberately. Harry had to wonder how Dobby got him in trouble with the Ministry with the hover charm, if House Elf magic couldn't normally be detected.

" _Dobby bes sorry Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby bes leaarning to dos ones or twos spells the wizzy way. Dobby bes only trying tos help Master Harry Potter_."

"That's OK Dobby, I know you were. How did you learn wizard magic?"

" _Dobby watch wizzy use magic and Dobby… Dobby use Master Harry Potter sirs wand_."

"My wand! How? I didn't see you with my wand."

" _Dobby puts nots bes seen on Master Harry Potters Sirs wand. Dobby den puts wand back wheres Dobby found its_."

Harry took a moment to think about what Dobby had just told him. After a few moments he asked, "So it is possibly to use a wand while I'm a House Elf?"

" _Yes Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby knows that it bes possible, but Dobby not really knows lots about its_."

"Just Harry, Dobby, what did I say about calling me master?"

" _Nots too. Dobby sorry Harry Potter sirs. If Dobby coulds Dobby woulds punish himselves."_

"I also said that there would be no punishing yourself."

" _Sorry Harry Potter sir."_

"That's alright Dobby. I just want you to get used to the fact that you never have to punish yourself if I can ever get you your body back."

" _Harry Potter bes the best master ever_."

Harry let the conversation go after that. He couldn't tell if Dobby was getting better or worse with his hero worship. He decided that his next stop was the room of requirement, to check if any of the wands that Sophia said were there would work for him. He hoped that one of the wands there would work for him and for Sirius when he got free. Harry wondered where Sirius got his wand the last time.

It was now the last day of term and Harry had learned, with the help of Dobby and Trappy, how to place a House Elf tracking charm and several other Hose Elf specific spells.. He had 'tagged' the potioning students and the student that had the poisons. He also 'tagged' Pettigrew, in case the Weasley's didn't win the draw and he had to track the rat down. Fortunately the tracking spell would work for six months before it wore off, more than enough time to capture Peter if the Weasley's didn't win. He would have to figure out a way to get Sirius out of Azkaban if the past didn't repeat itself.. He still had to find a way to break into the prison in case he had to get Bellatrix so he could get into her vault and hoped that he wouldn't have to do it twice He wasn't ready to acquire the Cup Horcrux yet, as its loss could possibly alert Voldemort of his activities. He planned to take all the Horcruxes that were out in the world before going for the cup. Harry didn't have to put the tracking charm on his younger self, he found that he had a connection and could keep track of Harry Jr.. Harry also put the tracking charm on several students that parents were Death Eaters or became Death Eaters themselves in the future. He planned on finding where they all lived, even if he didn't know what he would do with the information yet.

Harry watched Jr. board the Hogwarts Express with Hermione and Ron. He wondered how the golden trio's relationship would change now that he was taking care of all the things that caused them problems the last time around. Would their bonds still grow strong when they didn't have the same adversity that kept them together the last time? Would Ron still walk away from Jr. like he did the last time? Would Jr. take him back as easily if he did? Now that the Horcrux was gone would Jr's personality change? Harry would definitely keep a close eye on the situation. Maybe he could do something to encourage Jr to make more friends. Harry really didn't get to know the other students until he taught them in Dumbledore's army in his fifth year. Hopefully the reasons for Dumbledore's army to be created would never come to pass, but maybe he could figure out a way for Jr. to start an official defense club. No matter what, he would try to encourage Jr. to increase his friendship with Neville, and others.

For the first week after the term ended, the House Elves gave the castle a thorough scrub down. The Elves kept the castle clean the whole year, but there were certain things that they couldn't do when the students were there. This brought the thought of what it was that Filch actually did in the castle. He always complained about the messes that the students made and Harry could see him always cleaning by hand or making students clean by hand during their detentions. Harry knew that the House Elves could take care of any mess quickly and wondered why they made someone without magic try to keep the castle clean. He only thing that Filch was even a little good at was catching students. Having Filch as security had its own set of problems, like how could a Squib stop someone if they tried to use magic on him? A simple disillusionment to hide or a stunner would be able to take out the man. It actually seemed cruel to keep Filch around so much magic when he couldn't do any. Was it pity that kept the Headmaster from firing the man, or was it that Dumbledore just liked Squibs? He did have Mrs. Figg watch over him in Privet Drive. She didn't do a good job if Dumbledore never knew how the Dursley's treated him. " _Unless he knew_!" thought Harry. " _Didn't he say that he knew that he would be condemning me to a hard life or something? Bastard. I know that he put up blood wards but couldn't he think of anything else_? _Couldn't he have of at least checked up on me?"_

It took a few moments for Harry to calm down, and when he did, he had a new idea. _"I need to find a Squib that I can convince to help me out. I can get around fine as a House Elf in the magical world, but if I need anything in the muggle world, I'll need a human. Maybe I can get a muggleborn to help me, but that might cause problems_." Harry had to figure out a way to find a Squib, and find a way to get them to agree to help. He knew that, whatever he did, he would need a lot of galleons. It was now time to render the Basilisk.

Sophia was right, the House Elves knew what to do with the Basilisk since Harry knew. He had spent many hours studying the text on rendering animals that the room of requirement had provided and the Elves had some previous experience. It took three hours, with the help of about twenty House Elves, to complete the rendering. After the Basilisk was rendered down to usable parts, the House Elves took another few hours to clean the Chamber of Secrets. Three more rooms were discovered, one, a library with all the books missing. Another was a bedroom that had fallen into disrepair. The House Elves did all they could to restore the furniture, but it was a lost cause. The last room that was discovered was a medieval dueling room. There were wooden dummies and various weapons lining the wall. Harry figured that Voldemort or previous ancestors of Slytherin took all the books from the library over the years but left the weapons. Harry was a little surprised that there wasn't a potions room in the chamber, Slytherin was known as a potion expert after all.

Everything that was salvageable was stored in the room of requirement and Harry had the House Elves start to sell the parts of the Basilisk a little at a time. He also had them start to repair all that they could in the room of hidden things. The Elves were happy for all the extra work. When an item was repaired he had Sophia tell him its history if she could. Anything that didn't have a connection to the castle or was very dark he had the House Elves start to sell. He wanted to raise as much money as he could, because one of his ideas was to buy a house in the muggle world and use it to hide Sirius when he escaped, so he could recover. He wanted to avoid the magical world if at all possible, and bringing Sirius to the castle had its own set of problems. He had originally thought about using the Shrieking Shack to hide Sirius but decided against it because he knew that Dumbledore would probably search it, or more likely get someone to search it. Grimmauld place was out for the almost the same reason. He knew that he would be able to get in and out of it undetected easily enough, but it definitely wouldn't be a good place for Sirius to recover. All of his plans would be dependent on getting a human to be his front man.

Harry followed the House Elves when they started to sell everything, and got very familiar with Hogsmeade, Diagon, and Knockturn alley. None of the merchants even looked twice at buying things from the House Elves, and the galleons were starting to pile up. Harry created a new room in the room of requirement that looked just like Harry trust vault at Gringotts, which he used this to store all the galleons, sickles, knuts, and anything valuable or useful that was stored in the room of hidden things and the Chamber of Secrets. He also created a new room to store the Diadem Horcrux, until he could destroy it. He had to wait until Sirius recovered, so that he could try the ritual that Sophia taught him to remove the Horcrux without destroying the Diadem, he still didn't want to involve Dumbledore until they were all gone.. Harry, or more precisely the House Elves, found a Goblin made silver sword in the Chamber of Secrets. He doused it in basilisk venom just like the sword of Gryffindor. It came as a surprise that Voldemort didn't use any of the weapons in the chamber to make a Horcrux. Harry figures that there was no proof that the Sword or any of the other items belonged to Slytherin and that maybe Voldemort hadn't decided to use founders items yet. He did try to get a job at Hogwarts later and possibly would have used the opportunity to create one with one of the items then. He would use this to destroy the Diadem if the ritual didn't work.

Most of the teachers left the castle over the summer but McGonagall, Trelawney, Sprout, Hagrid, and Filch stayed. Sprout stayed to keep the greenhouses under control and Hagrid stayed for similar reasons. Not the Greenhouses, but the grounds and the animals in the Forbidden Forest. McGonagall stayed to work on all the paperwork involved with running the school, and to prepare for the incoming students for next year. Most of the teachers, like Snape, were more than happy to leave as soon as the term ended. Dumbledore spent most nights at the castle but the days were spent with his other duties as Chief Warlock or Supreme Mugwump of the I.C.W.. Harry wondered how much of the paperwork that McGonagall did was really the responsibility of the Headmaster. Harry couldn't understand why Filch never left the castle over the summer. For someone that hated the students so much, one would think that he would get away the first chance he got. Sophia informed Harry that the teachers that stayed at the castle took about a week or two off, but not at the same time. She also informed Harry that the other teachers returned two weeks before term started to prepare for the year. Harry wondered if Hagrid ever visited Norbert, or Norberta, over the summer. He decided that he would spend some of the money that the Elves had been collecting to arrange an international Portkey for Hagrid to visit Norberta over the summer, or maybe the next. It all depends on how difficult it would be to arrange the Portkey.

Speaking of having difficulty, Harry didn't know how he was going to find a Squib. He only ones that he new about were Filch and Mrs. Figg, neither of which would be willing to help him. He was wondering what he would do when Dobby spoke up, " _Harry Potter Sir_."

"Yeah Dobby."

" _Dobby mights be kowin what cans help_."

"Really! What do you know?"

" _There bes a thing that e Elves do tos keep little kiddies from acting ups. Wes makes dem calm down and do what wes tells dem to_."

"That sounds like Confundus charm. You do this to little kids?"

" _Yes Harry Potter sir. Wes do dis till kiddies reach four or fives. Den kiddies magic fight spell and kiddies no longer listens to us_."

"That's interesting but how does that help me?"

" _Well… muggies haves no magic so maybe they nots fight spell_."

Harry had to take a moment to consider this. It would make certain things easier if he could get some Muggles to do what he said. It certainly would make Jr's life easier if he could get the Dursleys to treat him well for once. He also wondered how he could use this to get what he needed in the muggle world. First thing he had to do was find out exactly what the spell could and could not do. "Dobby, tell me all you know about that spell. What will I be able to make a person do if I use it?"

" _Wells Harry Potter Sir, Dobby nots really knowin whats spell does to muggies, Dobby never tries it before on dem_."

"I understand. What does it do to the children?"

" _Its makes dem do what the elf says to dos. Its makes dem take baths without fusses and eat veggies without fusses and go to sleeps without fusses. Its makes dem do things theys normally wines and screams at doings_."

"So it makes them do it? Is it more like the Imperious Curse?"

" _No no no no no, Harry Potter sir. Its not Unforgivable. Spell only makes kiddies do whats they know they woulds do anyways. Kiddies cans fight spell ifs dey really wants to. Like ifs dey hates Brussel Sprouts, dey still nots eats em. Ifs dey only don't likes Brussel Sprouts, dey will eat_."

"So if they are asked to do something that is against their core values, they will fight the spell. If it's just something unpleasant they will do it?"

" _Yes Harry Potter sir_."

"So it probably won't be a lot of help with the Dursley's. Their hatred of me is one of their core values."

" _Dobby bes not knowin whats spell do tos muggies, Harry Potter sir."_

"OK Dobby, can you teach me the spell?"

" _Dobby bes happy to, Harry Potter sir_."

Harry spent the next few days practicing the spell, and thinking about how it would be useful to him. When he felt that he mastered the spell, he tried it out on Filch. Since Filch was a Squib, he did have a little bit of magic, even if he couldn't use it. Harry felt that it would be a good trial run, and found Filch asleep in his room one night. Harry cast the spell and told Filch to wear shorts the next day. This might not seem like a strange thing to do in the summer, but Filch had never done it before, according to Sophia. Harry left Filch to go back to sleep, and made it a point to check on him in the morning.

The next morning, Harry hid in a corner of the Great Hall, while the remaining teachers had breakfast. The House and teachers tables were gone, there was only a single table running down the middle of the hall. It reminded Harry of the Christmas that he spent at the castle, and how everyone at Christmas dinner sat at one table. Audible gasps were heard, and a fork clattered to the table, when Filch walked into the Great Hall wearing a bright orange bathing suit and his normal shirt and coat. He looked ridiculous, and Harry wondered if it was the only pair of shorts the man owned. It reminded him of how badly the wizards blended in at the World Cup when they were told to dress 'muggle'.

Filch sat at the table and asked, "What's wrong?"

Sprout was the first to recover, and said, "Nothing, it's just… I've never seen you wear those before." And she nodded at the bright orange shorts. "Are you feeling alright?"

""I'm fine, actually my arthritis is acting up a bit."

"And the shorts?" asked McGonnagall.

"I don't know, just felt like wearing them."

They all let the mystery of the shorts drop, but kept sending glances at Filch for the rest of the meal. Harry was extremely pleased with the success of the spell, and wondered what he could get away with at the Dursley's. He didn't have a lot of hope for a drastic change, but every little bit would help. Now, he just had to figure out how to use it on a muggle, to get him a house.


	6. Chapter 6

What The Chapter Six

It was three weeks into the summer when Harry noticed the cover of the Daily Prophet. The Teachers still had the paper delivered over the summer and Harry collected them when they threw it away. On the cover was a group shot of the Weasley's and the title said 'Weasley Family wins grand prize draw!' On the shoulder of Ron was a familiar looking rat. " _Well at least that happened like it did last time_ ," thought Harry. " _Now all that has to happen is Sirius seeing the picture and escaping_."

While Harry waited to hear about Sirius escape, he trained with one of the wands he found in the room of requirement and practiced using House Elf magic. The wand he found worked OK for him, not as good a match as his Holly and Phoenix feather wand but better than the Blackthorn wand that Ron provided him did. He also checked op on Jr. at the Dursley's and saw that the compulsion charm he used on them were working, somewhat. Like he predicted, the Dursley's hatred of Jr. was so ingrained in them that treating Jr. nicely was out of the question. What Harry ended up doing was, instead of them yelling at Jr. or saying awful things, they were to keep quiet, also to ignore Jr, whenever they could. Jr. still had to do all the chores and cook the meals but at least he wasn't being belittled all the time. Harry also helped to clean up the messes with his House Elf Magic to make Jr's job easier and provide extra food that was laced with nutrient potions. Jr was suspicious of the extra food and often called out "Dobby?" but Harry never answered the call even though he could hear Dobby begging him too.

"Sorry Dobby, but we have to remain hidden for now."

" _I knows Harry Potter sirs, buts Dobby wants to helps little master Harry Potter_."

"We are Dobby, we just have to do it secretly for now."

" _Yes Harry Potter Sirs_." Said the Elf in a sad tone in Harrys head.

. Dudley was much easier to convince to leave Jr. alone than his parents were. He really didn't hate Harry; he just was brought up believing that picking on Harry was the right thing to do. To help relieve Jr's boredom over the summer, he snuck several books on magic into Harry room. The first book was on Occlumancy with a note to practice. Maybe if Jr. learned the basics early, he would be able to learn the subject. Hopefully without the piece of Voldemort in his scar and not having the disastrous lessons with Snape would also help.

When he wasn't checking up on his younger self or training, he was working on his plan to buy a house in the muggle world. He wasn't able to find a squib to help him out since most left the wizarding world and he didn't want to use Mrs. Figg in case Dumbledore read her mind . The plan that Harry came up with was very simple, hopefully simple enough to work. He planned to use the House Elf Confundus charm ion a muggle real estate agent and have them finalize the sale to a fictional person. Now all he had to do was determine where to purchase the house. It had to be far enough away from the magical community for Sirius to hide and private enough to also avoid he muggles since they were looking for Sirius too.

Harry decided on a place on the outskirts of the city Stoke-on-Trent. Harry liked it because it was far enough from any magical and the city had the reputation as the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries. He found a local real estate agent and performed the charm, making the agent believe that she had indeed met the client and agreed to continue contact through the mail and that a cash transaction was perfectly acceptable. She would also close the sale without the normal procedures like repairs to the home or a new assesment. Any repairs that needed to be done could be done magically, and Harry planned to ward the place from here to kingdom come. It took only a week for te sale to go through with the charms help and Harry had the agent forget about the location of the home and accidentally destroy all the copies of the transaction except for the ones that Harry kept. He did leave her a nice bonus for all her trouble.

Harry had purchased a three bedroom cottage outside the main town. The house was a little small, but that could be taken care of with space enhancing charms. The main reason that Harry bought the property was because it stood in the middle of a three acre parcel of land. It took less than three hours for a team of Hogwarts House Elves to clean, repair and expand the place. When they were done it was more like a thirty room estate with two hidden underground levels. Harry also found that House Elves had their own type of wards that they could place. The House Elf wards were a permanent notice me not, a permanent Muggle repelling ward, a permanent wizard repelling ward (Wizards keyed into the ward won't be affected.), a permanent animal repelling ward, a permanent anti-apparition and anti-Portkey ward (Again wizards and Portkeys keyed into the ward won't be affected), an owl post redirect ward and they made the entire location Unplottable. Surprisingly the House Elves had a ward that could keep out Dementors. Harry definitely had them install this ward on his new home and had them also install it at Hogwarts. Hopefully it would keep the Dementors off the grounds if the Ministry was stupid enough to send them again. Maybe Harry Jr. would win against Hufflepuff if no Dementors interrupted the game. There weren't many active security wards that the Elves knew, they were more focused on concealment, so Harry had to look some up and consult Sophia. Harry placed several of the wards that he and Hermione used when they were on the run and a few of Sophia's recommended ones. The most vicious was a ward that detect a peticular type of magic and be set to expel of destroy it when detected. Harry had the ward set to detect the Dark Mark, which he was able to identify thanks to Sophia knowing it's magical signature. At the moment he had the ward set to expel. He didn't put this ward around Hogwarts because Snape was still a member of staff and Harry knew that he was on the side of the light, even if he was still a major git. He tried them all without the use of a wand since the Ministry could track wand magic and felt that he was successful. When Sirius recovered, he would have him place the entire property under the Fidelus. Harry had discovered that any and all magic performed under the Fidelus couldn't be tracked by the Ministry, even the trace. This information would have been useful before his fifth year, but Molly insisted that they clean Grimmauld Place by hand. Harry wondered if she knew the restrictions of the Fidelus or not.

When all was said and done, Harry could fly on the back of a dragon and as long as they stayed within the wards no wizard or muggle would notice a thing. As a final touch, Harry had the House Elves install Doggie Doors in all the outside entrances and exits and most of the interior doors, except for the bedrooms and bathrooms. He also had them build a dog house that was a replica of the cottage. This along with the swimming pool that Harry had the House Elves create in one of the lower levels made this the perfect home in his opinion. Now all it needed was a family and Harry was going to start with a Godfather.

While Harry's house was being purchased, The Daily prophet reported a break out from Azkaban prison. It seemed that the future hadn't changes too much and Fudge still handed Sirius the Daily Prophet with a picture of the Weasley's with Pettigrew on the cover. Harry wondered where Sirius was now but knew that he had to wait until Aunt Marge came to visit the Dursley's. Luckily it was only three weeks away. The three weeks passed by rather slowly for Harry. He still practiced using the wand at Hogwarts and practiced his House Elf magic. He found out that House Elf magic was mostly instinctual and came relatively easy. It was still unfamiliar so he kept on practicing, he didn't want to be caught unprepared.

He did scout the known Death Eaters homes and followed up on the potioneers. He did catch Basil Everheart brewing a new batch of love potion and sabotaged it. Basil was now in St. Mungos recovering from a magical explosion. After the explosion and before the authorities arrived, Harry planted several illegal potion ingredients at the scene. Basil would now be in trouble with the DMLE even if it was only a fine. Being a pureblood, Harry didn't believe that Basil would get into too much trouble, but he would now be on the DMLE's radar. The other potioning girls were being punished by their parents. Not for potioning another student but for being caught. Harry slipped the girls a love potion keyed to their fathers to get back at the girls and the parents. It was only one dose and it would last only for two to three days, but it was a powerful potion. This led to several awkward moments and Harry had to laugh when he wasn't feeling sick at what happened. One of the girl's fathers took advantage of the situation but Harry stopped it before it went too far. The student that brewed the poisons returned to a home that was full of abuse and Harry figured out why he brewed the poisons. The boy had a younger sister and Harry witnessed him trying to protect her from both the mother and the father. Harry couldn't take it and stunned the parents and children. He then transported the parents to Umbridge's house and stunned her. He then took the fathers wand and performed the Cruciatus Curse on Umbridge for a second. He then took anything valuable and put it I the parents pockets. He would later add several stolen items that he collected from Death Eaters houses over the summer to their home to make it look like they were thieves. It would also cover the fact the he was the one stealing in the first place. He used Umbridge's wand to send two stunners at the parents. He knew that an investigation would turn up the unforgivable and that Umbridge would take credit for the capture since it would make her look good. Harry debated with himself if this would be a good time to get rid of Umbridge but decided against it at this time. Umbridge would definitely be going down but it was more important to protect the kids at the moment. The boy and the girl were then dropped off at St. Mungo's to have their wounds treated. The injuries along with the parents being caught stealing red handed should see them removed from the situation. Since the boy was of age, he should gain custody of his sister. Harry would check in on them from time to time to make sure that they were doing OK.

The next step that Harry took to change the future was to capture Rita Skeeter while she was in her Animagus form. She dropped off the bug in a unbreakable glass case on Madame Bones deck during the night. When Amelia entered her office the next morning, she saw the glass case along with a note on her desk. After checking for any curse on the case or the note and calling several Auror's to investigate how someone could sneak into her office, she read the note. "Dear Madame Bones. In the case you will find an unregistered Animagus. When you find out who it is, you should have a happy day." Amelia put down the note and looked at the beetle. She then noticed another piece of parchment. "Madame Bones, on an unrelated topic, How can one be an escaped prisoner if one was never found guilty of a crime? Look into the trial of Sirius Black and you will find that he never had one. The reason that this is written on a separate piece of parchment is because several powerful people have a vested interest in Sirius Black staying in Azkaban. I would take it as a personal favor if you start an investigation into the reason Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban, but keep it quiet. I will try to provide more proof at a later time. A friend."

Amelia put the second piece of parchment in her desk, she would check to see if it was accurate. If so she would indeed investigate. It never felt right that Sirius would betray James and Lily. She contemplated the need to see an old friend in a haunted tower, but in the meantime, she called an Auror into her office so that there was another witness when she transformed the beetle into a human. The Auror turned out to be Nymphadora Tonks. When an unconscious Rita Skeeter was revealed, Amelia said, "It is indeed a happy day!"

There was nothing in the Daily Prophet but Rita was sentenced to ten years in Azkaban for being an unregistered Animagus. This was the maximum sentence allowed and the Wizengamot gave it to her because she had pissed off many of its members over the years. "T _hat's one more problem taken care of."_ Harry thought. " _Now all I need is for Sirius to show up_."

One week before Marge would arrive at the Dursley's was Harry's birthday. Harry wanted to do something special for Jr. and arranged for the twins to give up the Marauders Map. It took a lot of convincing and a few bribes to get the twins to give it up. Through a series of notes Harry was able to convince them that Harry was the son of prongs and the map belonged to him. He promised to introduce them to Mooney (Hopefully Lupin would still be the DADA teacher that year.) Harry also added 100 galleons to the 'bribe' to help them afford ingredients so they could perfect Weasley Wizard Wheezes. A promise to help them with a joke shop in the future was also included. Fred and George were told to send the map to Harry Jr. anonymously for his birthday along with a note that explained how the map worked and that they discovered that it belonged to his father. Harry also told them that if they entered the Hogwarts kitchens and asked for a House Elf called Dobby, that he would help them pull off a few pranks as long as they weren't too cruel. Harry was looking forward to helping out the twins during the year.

Harry watched Jr. open his presents under a strong notice me not and disillusionment charm. He had given a compulsion to the Dursley's to take Dudley to an amusement park and leave Harry behind. This left Harry Jr. alone to celebrate his birthday in peace. Hagrid and Molly had both sent Jr. a cake and Harry added a Treacle Tart. Harry saw Jr's eyes get large when he unwrapped the Marauders Map and read the note that explained what it was and what it did. Jr. spent many hours exploring the map, which was by far his favorite present. The day ended on a sour note when the Dursley's returned and announced that Marge would be coming over the next week.

During the week before Marge arrived, Harry had several discussions with Sophia. "Am I doing the right thing by allowing Marge to pick o Jr. like she did the last time?"

" _Only you can answer that_."

"I know. If Marge pisses me… him off too much it will get Jr. out of the house. Spending the few weeks in Diagon Alley was the best summer I had while at Hogwarts. It was all thanks to getting away from the Dursley's because of the accidental magic. The Minister wouldn't let me stay at the Alley otherwise and Dumbledore definitely wouldn't allow it. Actually, I always did spend the last few days or weeks of summer away from the Dursley's. I guess that I had recharged the blood wards by then. I wonder ow much time it takes Jr. to recharge the wards? I guess it doesn't matter."

" _If your plan comes to fruition, it should not_." Said Sophia.

"Right. So I guess it doesn't matter when Jr. leaves, only how. I hate to put my younger self through that but seeing Mage blown up like a balloon was a good memory. OK, I'll let things play out. I will do something to keep Ripper away from Jr. though."

Marge arrived in all her foul glory the following weekend. Harry cast a spell on Ripper that would make Jr. smell like a large wolf and it would keep the dog away from what was perceived as a larger predator. Harry also tried a compulsion charm on Marge but it had no effect. He couldn't even get her to leave Jr. alone. She started right away on Jr, demanding that he put all her things away and "Be quick about it you lazy waste of space." With Marge there, the compulsions that Harry placed on the Dursley's started to wear off. With another person in the house reinforcing their dislike of the Potter boy, their regular personalities started to re-emerge. Dudley was the only one that didn't seem to change.

A lot of the free time that Jr. had thanks to the Dursley's leaving him alone started to disappear as Marge insisted that he do even more chores and the Dursley's were more than happy to oblige. Harry still helped Jr. with the chores, but Marge had the habit of hovering over him and complaining about everything he did. Harry had to stop himself from cursing the foul woman several times. He had to pop back to Hogwarts and destroy several dummies in the room of requirement that looked surprisingly like Marge, Vernon and Petunia several times a day. He felt terrible for leaving Jr. to deal with the Dursley's and wondered if he did the right thing every night. Sophia tried to reassure him that it was the right thing but Harry was starting to doubt it.

It was finally the night that Marge was going to go too far. Harry spent most of his time that day hidden at the Dursley's and had 'accidentally' sent a tripping jinx at Marge when she was coming down the stairs. He waited until she only had two steps to go before he tripped her so she wouldn't be too hurt. He had no problem letting the unpleasant woman be hurt too bad, but she still had a part to play. After that though…? Marge started on the Brandy, for the pain, early that day. _This should help speed things along_ ´ thought Harry. Dinner started out exactly as Harry remembered. The topic turned to family and Marge made the comments on how if the bitch was a problem, so would be the pup. Jr. was getting so angry and plates started to shake and a wind started to form in the kitchen from out of nowhere. A Glass exploded but it seemed like Jr's temper was more under control that Harry's had been. Harry wondered if removing Voldemort's Horcrux was the reason for Jr's greater control. Not wanting to let the opportunity escape, Harry sent the Hex that caused Marge to blow up like a balloon. Jr. and all the Dursley's freaked out when Marge started to float away and Jr left to get his things to run away before the Dursley's could do anything to him. Harry had packed several things into Jr's trunk and placed a weak Featherlight charm on it while Jr. was preparing dinner. The charm would take about half the weight off the trunk but still leave it a little heavy so Jr. wouldn't notice. Jr. put everything that was hidden under the floor boards into his trunk and grabbing Hedwig's cage, left the Dursleys. Harry was glad that Jr. had asked Hedwig to stay at Hermione's until Marge had left, he didn't know what the woman might do. There was an altercation with Vernon before he could get away, but he was able to make it out just like Harry remembered. Harry did feel a little bad that he had caused Jr to be charged with using accidental magic, the second time that a House Elf had framed him. Hopefully the Magic that Jr. did use that shattered the glass would register at the Ministry. If not he would have to find a way to have Jr. stay at Diagon Alley for the rest of the summer.

Harry followed Jr. down the streets, keeping an eye out for a large black dog. Once again Jr. tripped over his trunk and accidentally summoned the night bus. Harry let him go, focusing more of the Grim look alike. When the night bus took off, Harry appeared before Sirius and said, "Hello Padfoot." The dog just had a shocked look cross his face. Harry stepped forward while Sirius was frozen in confusion and they both popped away.


	7. Chapter 7

What The Chapter Seven

Harry and Sirius popped into existence outside the wards of Harry's new home. The grim look alike started to pull away but stopped when Harry spoke. "Relax Padfoot, I know that you are innocent and I know who really betrayed the Potters." The dog stopped trying to escape and Harry went on, "I know where the rat will be I a few weeks and I will help you get him. Before we can do any of that though, we need to get you some place that the Ministry won't find you." The Dog had sat down by this point and was looking curiously at a House Elf that didn't act or sound like a normal Elf. Harry could tell that he had Sirius's undivided attention so he continued. "Good, first I need you to transform back to human so I can tie you into the wards."

Sirius took a few minutes looking around and Harry reassuring him that the whole area was wizard and muggle free before he turned back to his human form. He was more ragged than Harry remembered and let out with a raspy voice from disuse, "Who are you and why are you helping me?"

"For now you can call me Dobby, I will tell you more about me later. As for why I'm helping you… let's just say that we have someone in common that we both care about."

Harry could tell that Sirius didn't trust him but was too tired to fight. Sirius said, "Fine, for now. What do I have to do?"

"All that you have to do for now is place your hand on the activation rune stone so I can add your magical signature to the wards so you can pass freely."

"What wards and where is the stone?" croaked out Sirius.

"Follow me." Harry led Sirius to the mail box that was at the end of the road. As they got closer Sirius started to pull away, the wizard repelling wards starting to affect him as they neared the boundary "Those wards." Harry had to take his hand and practically drag him the last few steps to the rune stone. It was disguised as a muggle post box even though no mail would ever be delivered because of the wards. With a wave of his hand, Harry removed the wood that surrounded the rune stone and told Sirius to place his hand on it. He then said a few words and put his hand on the stone too.

Sirius was impressed with the disguise of the Rune stone and gasped when a house appeared and he felt the Wizard repelling ward stop affecting him. "You have a house under a Fidelus?" he asked.

"Not yet, it was just under a special notice me not and a few other wards. You are now keyed in so they won't affect you anymore. I do plan on using the Fidelus at some point, but you will have to be the one to place it."

"How…?" was all Sirius could get out before he collapsed from exhaustion.

Harry brought him into the cottage and set him up in the master bedroom. He then called for one of the Hogwarts House Elves and had her give Sirius some nutrient and healing potions and a dreamless sleep draught. He told the Elf to watch over Sirius and to call for him when he awoke. Harry had found that he could hear whenever someone called for him, or more specifically for Dobby. It did get a little annoying because Narcissa and Draco still called for the Elf. One time when it annoyed him too much, he pooped in to the call and sent a stinging hex at Draco's bits before popping back out. Draco never called for him again.

While Sirius was sleeping, Harry went to check on Jr.. He arrived just as the night bus was pulling out and the Minister was escorting Jr. into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry followed under the notice me not and disillusionment spell and hid in the corner as the Minister once again let Jr. off with just a warning. It had all played out as Harry remembered and he started to feel bad about getting his younger self in trouble again. He shook off the feeling quickly and placed a few extra wards on the room that he knew Jr. would be staying at. He couldn't place too many but he did include the Dark Mark repelling ward and one that would tell him if anyone other than Jr. entered the room. He would check in on Jr. over the summer in preparation for capturing Pettigrew, and just to make sure that he was ok. He did put the Dark Mark repelling ward set to low on the entrance to Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron and on the entrance to the apothecary in the Alley itself. It should be fun to see any Death Eater be thrown back, especially in such a small space, whenever they tried to enter Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron. The one on the apothecary was specifically for Snape, but if any other Death Eaters needed the shop… too bad. Just because Snape was one of the good guys, somewhat, didn't mean that he didn't deserve some payback for the way he treated Harry. Harry hoped that someone would pick up the one thing that all the people that were affected by the wards had in common, but he didn't really have high hopes. Most of the Wizarding world left their common sense and deductive reasoning at home, if they had any to begin with. He debated on sending another note to Amelia Bones stating what was going on with all the witches and wizards suddenly flying backwards when they tried to enter the Alley or the apothecary, but decided to wait and see if they figured it out on their own. Harry also thought of putting the ward on the front steps of Gringotts, but decided against it. He didn't want to do anything involving the Goblins if he could help it even if keeping the Death Eaters from their money would be great.

Waiting until Jr. fell asleep, Harry popped back to Hogwarts. Harry found that the longer he stayed away from the castle, the weaker he got. His bond to the castle was more dependent than any of the other Elves, it didn't start to affect him until he was away for two to three days, but he wanted to be at full strength to handle Sirius and Jr. at the same time. When Sirius awoke the next day, Harry was at his side. The Elf hat watched over Sirius while he was gone had cleaned the man up and put him into a pair of pajamas with a dog chasing a snitch running around. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Sirius jumped at the sudden intrusion. "Who…who are you?"

"I'm Dobby, don't you remember me from last night?"

"N-no. Where am I?"

You are in a safe place. I know that you are innocent and working to get you cleared."

"Really?"

Harry expected there to be some damage from Azkaban but he was still a little disappointed. He remembered that it was several months before he met the man in the last timeline which would have given Sirius some time to recover. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Yes really. I need you to recover your strength so that we can protect Harry."

HARRY! Where is he!? I have to protect him from Wormtail, He's at Hogwarts!"

Sirius started to panic and tried to get up. Harry had to place him in a bodybind until he calmed down. "Sirius, Sirius, PADFOOT!" he yelled and Sirius finally calmed down a little and payed attention to the Elf again. "I know that Peter betrayed the Potters and framed you. I also know that he is a rat Animagus and where he will be in a few weeks. He is out of our reach at the moment and away from Harry so calm down." When Sirius sat back down Harry continued. "Good. Now there are a few things that you have to know."

"Like why is a strange House Elf helping me?" Sirius interrupted.

"Yes, I will explain that and a few other important things."

"Why are you talking so funny?"

"What do you mean?"

You're talking… normal."

"Normal?"

"Yeah, normal. You're not stuttering or messing up your words."

"Oh that. It's because I'm not a regular Elf."

"Where is your master? Who is really helping me?" Sirius said while looking around suddenly.

"I don't have a master. Like I said, not a regular Elf."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care." Harry snapped back. "You are a wanted man who is hunted by both the magical and muggle community. Right now you are in a safe place where neither of them can get to you. You are weak and have no wand so if you try to leave and get caught, you will not be able to put up much of a fight. Now you might be thinking that you can go about in your dog form and evade capture, but think about it. Does anyone else know that you are an unregistered animagus? How long before you get caught, huh?"

"The only other person that knows is Remus Lupin and he would never…"

Harry cut him off. "He thinks that you betrayed the Potters and killed Peter, wouldn't he?" Harry knew that Remus never revealed it in the past…future, but he didn't want Sirius to know that. If Sirius stayed of his own free will it would make things easier. He didn't want to tell the man that he was Harry from the future yet, he didn't think that he could handle it at the moment.

Sirius was quiet for a long time before he said, "You're… right. I need to recover before I face the traitor. But I need to protect Harry."

"I have that covered."

"What do you mean?"

"Right now he is at the Leaky Cauldron and I placed several protective wards around his room. I also have someone watching out for him."

But Peter can get to him there!"

"Actually he can't. One of the wards that I placed keeps people with the Dark Mark away from him. He's also out of the country at the moment." Harry pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet with the Weasley's on the cover. Sirius recognized it as the same one that he saw that encouraged him to escape. Harry continued, "They are in Egypt at the moment and won't return for some time."

"You're sure he's safe?"

"Yes Padfoot, I'm sure."

"How do you know that name? How do you know any of this?"

You mean how I know that you are Padfoot, Remus Lupin is Mooney and a Werewolf, Peter Pettigrew is a rat, in more ways than one, and that James Potter was a stag named Prongs?"

"How do you know all that? And why are you doing something now. If you know that I was innocent, why did I spend so much time in Azkaban?" Sirius was getting angry at the end.

"Calm Down. I only recently came into a position to help you and Harry out. There are some things that I can't tell you yet. I promise that you will know it all soon, but not yet."

"I don't like it."

"It is necessary."

"I still don't like it."

"Too bad."

Sirius was silent for a while again before he asked, "Where are we?"

"Outside Stoke-on-Trent. I arranged a safe house for you to recover."

""You mean your master arranged a safe house. How did he know that I would need one, and how did you find me?"

"I told you that I don't have a master."

Sirius gave him a skeptical look and said, "Right."

"Stuff it Padfoot."

Sirius laughed at that response, before it turned into a cough. Harry had him lay back down and gave him a few more healing potions. "You still haven't answered how you knew where I would be."

Harry was silent for a minute. He hadn't come up with an excuse for how he knew where Sirius would be and why he had the safe house built. He wasn't ready to say he was from the future yet so he finally answered with, "I was following Harry, to keep him safe when I noticed you. I had hoped to run into you and I had the house so…"Sirius seemed to accept this half-truth and drifted off to sleep.

Harry left Sirius to recover and thought more about how he was going to have to deal with him. He really hadn't planned on what he would tell the man, especially when he wasn't yet ready to know about the time travel. This also made him think about what he would say to other people like Remus Lupin and his younger self? Would he keep everything from them or would he share? If he decided to tell everything to Sirius but not to other people, would Sirius tell them despite his wishes? The internal battle raged on for many hours before Harry fell asleep. He didn't discuss this with Sophia because he told himself that he wanted to figure it out on his own. He didn't sleep well that night.

He was woken by a House Elf the next morning. "Master Harry Potter, doggy man is waking and asking for yous."

Harry rubbed he sleep from his eyes and thanked the Elf. He then heard Dobby's name being called from what seemed like a great distance. He popped to the safe house to the sight of Sirius running through the house in his Animagus form. He had recovered a bit of his strength and seemed to really appreciate the doggie doors as he kept running through them. "I see you found my addition to the house." said Harry when Sirius finally came to a stop in front of him. Sirius transformed back and Harry noticed that he had found the clothes that the House Elves had acquired for him. Sirius was dressed in a pair of black cotton pants with a black button up shirt. Black shoes and socks completed the look that had the man as black as his name. "Love all the bright colors you chose." joked Harry.

Sirius looked down and gave a bark like laugh. "It felt right. Thanks for the change of clothes. I noticed that there were no robes."

"You can't really be seen in the wizarding world, so there is no point in getting any."

"I guess. So is this my new prison?"

This had taken Harry aback. "N-no, you're free to go. But if you do, you will probably be caught. Remember that everybody thinks that you're guilty. Even Harry." Harry saw that this had greatly upset Sirius. "I am working on clearing your name, but it will take some time."

"You mean capturing Peter?"

"That and I have already laid some ground work with Amelia Bones."

"Amy? What can she do, she's only a simple Auror?"

Harry laughed, "She's the head of the DMLE."

"Really!?"

"Yeah really. It has been over eleven years since you've seen her last."

Sirius got a faraway look in his eyes and sat down. They were in the kitchen so Harry made some tea and biscuits for Sirius and himself. "Eleven years" was all that Sirius said for the next ten minutes. There were tears running down Sirius's face and Harry felt very uncomfortable but didn't want to interrupt the man's release. When Sirius composed himself, he said "Why are you helping me?" he said this in a voice so low Harry almost didn't hear it.

"Because, what is important to Harry, is important to me. He might not know who you really are but he will soon and then he will want to get to know you."

"How do you know?"

"I know Harry Potter better than anyone on Earth."

Sirius looked like he wanted to say something, but then lowered his head to the table. Harry heard him mumble. "So much time wasted. I'm going to destroy that rat" Sirius finished, getting angry.

Harry was a little worried about the mood swings that Sirius was showing. Hopefully they would calm down as he recovered. "We will, but we have to use him to get you cleared first."

"I want him dead!"

He will be before too long. Let's use him first."

Sirius calmed down again. "Ok, what am I to do I the meantime"

"Just recover. I'll bring an assortment of wands for you to try when you get a little stronger; otherwise I have provided a stack of Daily Prophets from when you went away to help you catch up on what you missed. I would take whatever is in them with a grain of salt. You know that they have a rocky relationship with the truth. I would definitely ignore anything written by Rita Skeeter"

Harry left Sirius to check on Jr.. He found him at Quality Quidditch Supplies looking at the Firebolt. Harry remembered all the good times he had on the broom. It was the first gift from his Godfather that he ever remembered receiving, even if he didn't know that it was from Sirius at the time. Everything was going good with Jr. so Harry looked around the alley. He heard people talking about the weird happening of people being blasted back when they tried to enter the Alley. So far Crabbe Sr. and Goyle Sr. had been caught entering from the Leaky Cauldron along with McNair. So far nobody with the Dark Mark had tried to enter the apothecary yet. Harry was hoping that Snape would be caught by the wards before they were discovered and taken down. Before he left, he placed the Dark Mark repulsion wards over the entrance from Knockturn Alley. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten to place them there the last time. He also went up and down Knockturn Alley placing the ward on random shops. He definitely placed it on Borgin & Burkes. With that done, he popped back to the castle to recharge.

Over the next few weeks he spent his time between taking care of Sirius and checking in on Jr.. He still hadn't told Sirius who he really was yet but they were getting closer. Sirius still didn't believe that Harry/Dobby was really a free elf and kept randomly asking who his master was. He seemed to hope that if he sprung the question up at random times that maybe he would trick Harry into answering. Of course it didn't work. Harry was so busy with the two wizards that he no longer checked in and 'liberated' some of the Death Eaters more valuable possessions. The days were flowing by and before he knew it, it was time for the Weasley's to return.


	8. Chapter 8

What The Chapter Eight

Harry planned to intercept the Weasley's before they went to Diagon Alley. He knew that Pettigrew had the Dark Mark and that the Dark Mark repelling wards would keep him from entering. Capturing Pettigrew would also have the benefit of keeping Ron from blaming Crookshanks of killing his pet; that is if Hermione once again bought the orange furball. Harry knew that the Weasley's would be meeting up with Jr. in two days so he popped to the Burrow late one night and simply stunned the rat while everyone was sleeping. He popped back to the Chamber of Secrets and set the unconscious rat in a prepared cage. He had used the summer to prepare the Chamber to hold prisoners of almost every variety, from wizard to Vampire to Werewolf, to Dementors. He didn't know how much use the chamber would see but he wanted to be prepared. At one time he had debated setting it up as a place for Sirius to hide so that he would be close to Jr. but decided against it. Sirius would be stuck in the gloomy place and that wouldn't be beneficial to his recovery and so far Harry hadn't found another exit, so Sirius would have to rely on him to come and go. The chamber was better used to house prisoners in Harry's opinion. The cage that Harry had prepared for Pettigrew was set in a spotlight surrounded by shadows and charmed unbreakable so he couldn't transform and escape, and had a few nasty surprises. If Peter touched the glass he would get a shock that would increase in intensity every time he touched it. Hopefully, or not, Peter would be smart enough to learn from his experiences. Harry had also placed an illusion of a cat that would prowl around the cage at random times. This should keep the traitor on his toes. Another thing that Harry did to mess with the rat was to only feed him the simplest, blandest rat food, but have a plate of cheeses and other delicious smelling food placed right outside the cage every day. Harry had no remorse with messing with Peter, he owed him much worse for what he did and what he was going to do.

Harry didn't even wait for the rat to regain consciousness and popped back to the Weasley's to place some protective wards. He placed the Dark Mark repelling ward set to stun whoever tried to pass it and added a few more protective wards before he left. He wanted his friends protected and already warded Hermione's house. For fun he placed a tripping jinx that would activate at random times right outside the twins bedroom door.

He was debating whether to get Ron a new pet. Ron complained about Pigwidgen, but Harry knew that he loved the small owl. He wondered what ever happened to the bird in the last timeline, they couldn't take him with them when they were on the run while looking for the Horcruxes. Thinking back, he never once heard Ron mention him so maybe he really didn't care for the owl as much as Harry remembered: Hermione mentioned Crookshanks many nights. Harry decided to leave the question of Ron's pet for a later time and popped away.

Harry's next stop was to check in on Jr.. Everything was going well with is younger self so Harry wandered around and overheard a couple more stories about random wizards being thrown back while trying to enter the Alley. Three people had been tossed back from the apothecary so far, but still no Snape. Knockturn Alley had the highest number of 'random' attacks. Borgin had been heard complaining that his business would have to shut down if all his customers couldn't even enter his shop. Harry had no problem if this came to pass. So far nobody had discovered the ward but Harry heard some store owners considering contacting the Goblins about hiring their curse breakers. Harry thought, " _Well, it was fun while it lasted_." Harry would remove all the wards when the Goblins did eventually get involved. He didn't want them working out a counter to the ward. Still no one had figured out what all the witches and wizards had in common so Harry decided to send another note to Amelia Bones. He would also include a Basilisk skin vest that the Hogwarts House Elves had created when they rendered the Basilisk. He said it was a gift for her protection, not a bribe, and that she could do with it what she liked. Harry had a full cloak made for his younger self and several vests made for his friends that he would give to them at a later date. He did remember that Amelia was killed in the last time line and even if he knew that it didn't happen for a few years, he wanted her protected. Most people agreed that she would have made a much better Minister than Fudge and Scrimgour combined. Harry planned to get Fudge thrown out of office soon, if not worse, and Amelia would probably become a target.

Harry last stop of the day was to check on Sirius. He had started to recover but still had many extreme mood swings. If he wasn't a wanted man, Harry would have gotten him a mind healer, but that wasn't really an option. One thing that Harry recommended Sirius do to help him recover and kill some time, was to write notes to Harry about who he was and who Harry's parents were. Harry remembered all the tales that Sirius shared of his younger years with his father, but Sirius had died before more than a few were told. Having Sirius write them down for Jr. (and himself) would give Harry a treasure trove of information on his parents and help Sirius remember all the good time he had while growing up that the Dementors had suppressed. It seemed to be helping because Sirius had a smile on his face when Harry popped in.

"Dobby! How are you this fine day?"

"I am doing well. Several more people have been flying around Diagon and Knockturn alley." Harry had told Sirius about placing the Dark Mark repelling wards around the alleys and Sirius couldn't stop laughing. "I might have to take them down soon and I will send a note to Amelia Bones explaining what was happening later tonight."

"That's too bad about the wards coming down. Give my condolences to your master."

Harry was starting to get pissed at Sirius wouldn't believe that he had no master. "How many times do I have to tell you that I have no master until you get it through your thick head?"

"Until I believe you. I know that a House Elf has to be bonded to a master, a family, or a place or he will die."

"I have no master, but I am bonded."

"Really? To where?"

Harry debated with himself if he should tell Sirius that he was bonded to Hogwarts. He finally said, "A magical castle. I might take you there when you get better."

"A magical castle? So you do follow someone's orders."

"I am my own master!" Harry said with a little heat in his voice. "The only orders I have to follow are my own."

Sirius raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Ok, ok. You have no master. So Dobbs, what are we doing today?"

"Well I'm running errands. You… are recovering."

"But I'm boooored!" Sirius whined like a little girl.

Harry let out an exasperated sigh. "Tell you what, I think that you have recovered enough for you to try out a few wands to see if you find a match." Harry saw Sirius's eyes light up. "If you promise not to prank me."

Some of the sparkle left Sirius's eyes at the last statement, but he responded, "Of course, Marauders honor."

Harry didn't really believe him but nodded and popped away. Two minutes later he popped back with a collection of wands. "Try these out and see if you find a match." Sirius tried all the wands and settled on an Ash and Dragon Heartstring wand that produces a pitiful barrage of silver sparks when he tried it. It was by no means a perfect match, but it worked better for him than any other wand there. Harry asked, "Do you have access to another wand? Maybe you stashed one away somewhere? I could go get it for you."

"There might be some family wands stashed away at one of the Black properties that might work better for me, but this should do for now. Thank you."

"Now I don't want you to overdo it, you are still recovering, but feel free to practice all you can in the second level of the basement which I have heavily warded. I would like it if you only use wand magic in that room until we can get this property under the Fidelus. I don't want to risk the Ministry detecting the magic in the area and coning to investigate. I don't think they will be able to detect the property, but why take the chance."

Sirius, so happy to be able to do magic again, readily agreed. "So Dobbs, when are we going after Peter?"

Sirius said this in a casual tone of voice, but Harry knew that this was one of Sirius's primary motivations and he wouldn't let it go any time soon. He had in fact asked this question at least three times a day whenever Harry visited him. Harry debated on whether to tell Sirius that he had captured the rat this morning or not. Deciding that the truth was probably best, Harry said, "As a matter of fact I caught him this morning."

"WHAT! Bring him too me right NOW!" Sirius said, shouting at the end. There was a look or murder in his eyes.

"And if I do?"

"I'll murder the traitor!"

"And that's why I won't let you near him at the moment." calmly answered Harry. Sirius turned his murderous look to Harry and started to raise his wand. Harry just snapped his fingers and the wand flew to his hands. "Calm down Padfoot! I'm not going to deny you your revenge, but we need him alive for now."

Sirius yelled and raged at Harry for a few minutes, throwing furniture and practically destroying the room he was in, but eventually calmed down enough to say, "I'm holding you personally accountable for the rat. If he gets away again…" Sirius left the threat hang.

Harry wasn't concerned and was relaxed during the outburst, even if his House Elf instincts wanted to clean up the mess that Sirius made. Sirius mood swings had calmed down a little but they were still there. "Don't worry. I prepared for Peter and have an escape proof set up." Harry explained to Sirius all that he did to prepare for Peter and Sirius laughed mirthlessly when Harry mentioned the cat illusion and the shocking cage. He especially seemed to like the idea of the marvelous food just out of reach of the rat. This had seemed to calm Sirius down the rest of the way and Harry returned his wand. He never mentioned where Peter was being kept, he knew that Sirius would never be able to get in the Chamber of Secrets but why risk it. He promised that he would take Sirius to see the rat at a later date as long as Sirius stayed hidden. He didn't want Peter to know who had captured him so he couldn't say anything if he was questioned under Veritasirum. This brought up a memory from his past and he asked Sirius, "Sirius, you and my… Potter used communications mirrors when you were at Hogwarts, didn't you?" He almost said his father, but caught himself in time.

This question caught Sirius off guard. He eventually answered, "Yeah?"

"Do you know where they are, or how to make more?"

I could probably make another set, I have no idea where the originals might be. Why?"

"I was thinking that I could set one up outside Peter's cage so you could keep an eye on him yourself."

This had put the sparkle back into Sirius eye. "I'll get started on them right away."

"OK, actually make a few sets. You never know when they might come in handy."

It took Sirius two days to complete the first set of mirrors and Harry placed one end up in the shadows outside Peter's cage under a notice me not and silencing spell. This seemed to make Sirius happy and he spent many hours watching the rat in his cage. Harry knew that this wasn't the healthiest way for Sirius to recover but he left Sirius to it and went to check on Jr.. When the Weasley's arrived in the Alley, he followed the group around for most of the day and saw Hermione had once again bought Crookshanks. Ron was looking a little depressed at the loss of his pet rat but otherwise it was a pleasant time for the golden trio. To help cheer Ron up, Harry left a galleon in his path that he would 'discover'. This definitely cheered the red head up a little, ok a lot. He never did mention finding it to his friends though. They would be leaving the next day to go back to Hogwarts so Harry left a backpack that was charmed bottomless and featherlight in Harry room that night with a note saying it was from a friend. Once again Jr. tried calling Dobby like he did every time Harry left something for him. Once again Harry didn't answer the call, he wasn't ready to deal with Jr. personally yet. Over the summer Harry noticed that Jr. was reading the books that he provided, starting with the one on Occlumancy. He hoped that he was taking everything in and that it would help in the coming years. There was no way for Harry to check Jr's Occlumancy but he did see Jr. meditating every night before he went to sleep, which was one of the first steps in mastering the subject. Hopefully the lessons were working on his younger self.

The Goblins hadn't gotten involved clearing Knockturn or Diagon Alley yet so Harry kept the Dark Mark repelling wards up. Several more Death Eaters had been caught in their trap and been sent flying, but still no Snape. Harry had to wonder where he got his potion ingredients from. Harry took down the wards the morning of the first. He didn't know if he would have time to check on them every day and didn't want to assign a House Elf the duty. He definitely wanted them down before the Goblins got involved. Amelia would have read the letter he sent by now, he had delivered it late the night before. Thank god for only needing four hours sleep. Harry hoped that no one noticed the coincidence that the wards went up when Jr was at the Alley, and they came down when he left.

The next day, Harry decided to ride the train with the kids. Unfortunately the Ministry had decided to send the Dementors to guard Hogwarts again. Harry had hoped that without Lucius's influence, Fudge might not send them, but his hopes were dashed. Harry thought about it and figured that Umbridge probably was the one responsible for the Dementors in the first place. She had a habit of using them and she had no problem with torturing kids. She and the Ministry would get a shock when they found out that Hogwarts had new wards that would repel the foul creatures. Harry decided to add the same wards to the Hogwarts express, remembering that they boarded the train the last time. He also decided to stay on the train and see what happened. He didn't know how the Dementors would be affected by the wards.

Draco was on the train but he stayed in his cabin the entire trip, not bothering any other student. Harry figured that his father's death must have taken a little of the swagger out of his step. Just like he remembered happening he last time, the train was stopped about ten minutes from Hogsmeade station. It was fun to watch the Dementors bounce off the wards surrounding the train when they tried to board. Harry didn't see any of the Dementor's handlers and wondered if they were told to search the train or just decided to do it on their own. If it was the second option, that made them even more dangerous. The only downside was that the effects the Dementors produced still affected the students, even if it was not as powerful since they couldn't get too close. Harry provided bars of chocolate to every compartment anonymously and it seemed to help the students, especially when Lupin went up and down the train and encouraged them to eat. The rest of the trip passed in peace, nervous peace. Harry also applied the Dementor wards to the carriages and the boats so the students would be protected as they passed them on the way to the castle. It would suck for a first year to encounter one on the trip over the lake.

Harry was greeted by Sophia when he entered the Hogwarts. She was happy to have student once again wondering her halls. It was her primary purpose to watch over them after all. " _Welcome back my son."_

Harry had to roll his eyes. Sophia made it sound like she hadn't seen him in a long time, when he had spent the night, he spent every night, at the castle. "Hello Sophia. It sounds like you're happy."

" _I am. I don't feel more fulfilled than when I have charges to look over. This year should be a good year, especially since you have reestablished my ability to properly watch over them again. I have already detected and confiscated a few dangerous potions and several dark artifacts from the student's luggage_."

"Really? Like what?"

" _There were three students that tried to sneak in love potions, one who tried to sneak in poison, and four that tried to sneak in cursed objects_."

"Who had the poison?"

" _A seventh year Slytherin_."

"Replace the poison with something harmless and put it back. We will watch the student closely and see what he does with it."

" _Yes my son_."

"Who were the students with the love potion? Were any of them the ones that were caught last year?"

 _"_ _Unfortunately one of them was_."

Who?"

" _Basil Everheart_."

" _That bastard. He must have bought it since I kept checking in on his house_." Harry thought. "I caught him trying to brew a batch over the summer. I stopped him and got him in trouble. I guess he didn't learn his lesson. We're going to have to do something about him. I don't trust him around the other students."

" _What do you want to do?"_

"I'm not sure yet."

 _"_ _And the other students that brought in a love potion?"_

"Who are they?"

" _One is a Slytherin fifth year boy and the other is a Ravenclaw seventh year girl_."

"Can you tell if the love potions were keyed to anyone?"

" _The Slytherin's potion was keyed to a third year Slytherin. The Ravenclaw's was still unkeyed_."

"Really, who was the Slytherins keyed to?"

" _A third year student by the name of Daphnee Greengrss_."

"The Ice Queen?"

" _I believe that she does go by that nick name, yes_."

Harry was quiet for a minute, "Ok, here's what I want you to do. First, how much of the unkeyed love potion do you have?"

" _There is enough for ten doses_."

"Good, I want you to key two doses to…Snape. I then want you to have the two doses delivered to the two potioning students meals tomorrow morning. How strong is the love potion?"

" _It is slightly weaker than Amourtentia_."

Good, it should get them to act on it. Next, after you have dosed the two students, I want you to slip a unkeyed dose back into their luggage. You should probably put the dose keyed to Greengrass in the Slytherins luggage. She's a pureblood so he should get into even more trouble for it"

" _I can do that. You are applying the principal of an eye for an eye_."

"I guess so. I just want them to get in trouble for the love potion. Snape should be able to recognize the signs… and it should be amusing to watch his reactions to their advances." ' _Plus he never got caught by any of the Dark Mark repelling wards in the Alley_." Harry thought.

" _And Basil Everheart? Should I dose him too?"_

"No. I'm going to have to do something…drastic with him. He had too many chances already."

" _And what of the students with the dark artfacts?"_

"What were the artifacts and who were the students that brought them in?"

 _"_ _A sixth year Slytherin brought in a Quill that uses the writer's own blood_."

"A blood quill?" Harry remembered Umbridge using one on him in his fifth year. Harry hated them "Destroy it."

" _Yes my son. Another Slytherin sixth year brought in a broach that cause the wearer to forget what they had just read or heard_."

"Really? What good would that do?"

 _"_ _I believe that he plans to give it to someone that is doing better than him. It will cause that person to lose focus_."

"I guess I could see how that could be used to sabotage some one academically. Can you remove the curse from the broach?"

" _I cannot, but I can guide you in doing so_."

"Ok, I'll get rid of the curse tonight and sneak it back into the person's luggage. We'll watch to see who he gives it to."

" _Yes my son. The other cursed item is a Hand of Glory. It was brought in by a Gryffindor fourth Year_."

Harry was a little surprised to hear that a Gryffindor snuck in a dark object like that and asked, "Who brought it in?"

 _"_ _A fourth year by the name of Cormac McClaggen_."

"Figures. Destroy it and have a House Elf watch him. If he breaks any rules, I want you to make sure that he gets caught by a teacher. Do the same for the student that brought in the Blood Quill. Actually, keep the Hand of Glory. It might prove useful later on."

" _And the student that brought in the broach?"_

"I'll wait to see who he gives dot to before deciding his punishment."

" _Yes my son. The last two artifacts were brought in by the same student. One is a dagger that had a dark curse placed on it that won't allow the wound to heal with magic. The other is an invisibility cloak. The cloak by itself isn't classified as a dark artifact; in fact there are three in the castle at the moment. It, combined with the dagger led me to classify it as such_."

Harry didn't like the sound of either of the two artifacts in the hands of a student and asked, "Who brought them in?"

" _A third year student by the name of Draco Malfoy_."


	9. Chapter 9

What The Chapter Nine

"WHAT!" shouted Harry. Luckily he was alone in the Room of Requirement at the time. His volume was so high that he could have woken the dead. "What do you mean that Draco Malfoy snuck in such dangerous items?" His mind was racing a mile a minute. He tried to recall if Draco ever had something like that in the last time line. He couldn't think of any reason that Draco would have those two particular items, the dagger and the cloak, other than to attack someone. The only person that Harry could think that Draco would attack led him to his younger self. He figured that Draco blamed him for the death of his father after all and had the stones to try to get revenge himself. Harry actually didn't think the coward had it in him and figured that he would get someone else to do it for him, probably Crabbe or Goyle. He defiantly would be keeping a close an eye on Draco this year.

" _It is as I said_ ," answered Sophia. " _He has a cursed dagger and an invisibility cloak in his trunk. What do you want me to do with them?"_

Harry had to think about this for a minute or two. He finally came back with, "For now place a tracking charm on both objects and leave them in his luggage. If he, or anyone ever takes either of them out of his dorm room, contact me immediately."

" _Yes my son."_

"Also have him and Crabbe and Goyle watched at all times"

" _It will be done_."

Harry hadn't seen this complication arising. " _Another thing that changed since I came to the past. I'll have to pay more attention to the things that change_." thought Harry. "Alright, anything else I should know?"

" _There are several wizards at my borders that came with the Dementors that are trying to determine why the Dementors can't pass through the wards_."

"Have they been successful?"

" _No. there are several wards in place and they should disguise the Dementor repelling ward. The ward is also of House Elf origin which should make the endeavor even harder_."

"That's good. It's only a matter of time before the Headmaster becomes involved. Will he be able to do anything about the ward?"

 _"_ _No. Mastery of the wards has been transferred to you, with the ward controller in the Headmasters office still monitoring them. Since the ward is of House Elf origin, he won't even be able to see that it is there_."

"I'm sure that he will investigate it himself."

" _He is proficient enough in magic to identify the ward on his own_."

"What can we do?"

" _There is nothing to do. I do not believe that he will take down the ward if he discovers it. I would recommend that you order the House Elves to not answer any questions about the ward, or any other of the wards that they placed."_

"That's a good idea. Hold on. Trappy!"

"Yes Master Harry Potter sir." Responded the Elf as he popped in right next to Harry.

Harry was getting used to House Elves popping in next to him at any time and hardly ever flinched any more. "Trappy, I want you to tell the rest of the Elves to not answer any questions about the wards. Even if it is the Headmaster, only answer my questions. I would also like you to tell me if anyone ask about the wards."

"Trappy cans be doing that's." said the Elf before popping away.

"Sophia, can you identify the wizards that are at the ward line?"

" _Yes I can my son. There is a wizard by the name of John Dawlish, a wizard be the name of Marcus Thorsbury and a witch by the name of Delores Umbridge_."

"Umbitch is here?"

" _Yes_."

"Can you acquire her magical signature?"

" _She is casting many spells at the wards which would have made it easy, but I already have her magical signature in my memory. Most of magical Britain has passed through my walls over the many centuries and I remember every magical sigunature_."

"Really, so you have Tom Riddles signature memorized?"

" _Yes_."

"So we can modify the ward that recognizes and rejects magical signatures, the one that we are using to reject the Dark Mark in Diagon Alley, We can use it to keep out Tom specifically?"

" _Yes_."

". Tom Riddle is the only one able to place the Dark Mark and it his signature that I use to repel the Dark Mark. If I place the ward over the school, it will also repel Severus Snape."

"That's too bad. I would be nice to get rid of the git, but it would cause too many problems at the time. So are you saying that everywhere I placed the Dark Mark repelling ward if also protected from Riddle?"

"Yes my son."

"Well that good. I'll have to think of other places to set the ward. Why don't you put up a ward that will keep out Umbridge. I don't want her anywhere near kids."

" _It is being done now_."

"Good. I think that I'll go down to the ward line and watch the show."

And what a show it was. Unfourtanetly for Umbridge, she was just inside the wards when they went up. She was flung back over forty feet from the Hogwarts entrance gate where she and he 'colleagues were examining the wards. Nothing was hurt during her landing other than her pride, but since that was the most important thing about her, she had a spectacular reaction. After taking a few moments to regain her awareness, she marched right back up the ward line and tried to cross again. This time she was only flung back about fifteen feet. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed, she tried it one more time. Like the last attempt, she flew back another fifteen feet. So far none of the Auror's that were accompanying her had done anything, but at this last attempt, they started to examine the wards again. No one made any attempt to help Umbridge. The vile woman was purple with anger when she approached the ward line for the third time. It seemed that she learned her lesson though, as she stopped well before she ran any risk of crossing them again. She found her wand that had been dropped when she was first blasted away, and started to fling curse after curse at the wards. She wasn't even trying to figure out what was keeping her out of Hogwarts, she was just venting her rage. Both Auror's had to shield themselves from the ricocheting spells. Dawlish found out the hard way that Hogwarts new wards stopped most offensive magic from passing by redirecting the spells. He was hit by one of Umbridge's first spells, a Flipendo, and was now on the ground shielding himself from the rest of her rebounding spells. Thornsbury, seeing what happen to Dawlish, was also shielding from the ricocheting spells. He was lucky enough to not be hit yet.

It took only a little over a minute for Umbridge to stop casting. She was already magically exhausted after such a short time and passed out. Thornsbury helped Dawlish to his feet and checked him over for injuries. He had none so they reluctantly, from what Harry could tell, went over to check on Umbridge. She showed no injuries, other than a few cuts and scrapes, so the left her on the ground. Harry even thought that he saw Dawlish give Umbridge a little kick. All the commotion had garnered some attention and several people from the village were making their way up the path. So far no one from the castle had come to investigate. The villagers turned right back around when several Dementors floated on to the path. Harry saw the Dementors approach but get pushed back when they got close to the ward line. Harry hoped that maybe one of the Dementors would give Umbridge the kiss, but Thornsbury dropped something onto her body when they started to approach and after saying something that Harry couldn't hear, her body disappeared. " _Must have been a Portkey. Too bad. Well it looks like the wards work_. _Another problem with the Headmaster not being attached to the wards. If he's not in his office when the wards get attacked, he won't know a thing_. _Still a little surprised that no one from the castle came out to investigate the attempt though, it was very bright and loud, even if it didn't last too long. I guess Umbitch is a weaker witch than I thought. She only lasted a minute. I could do better when I was a first year. No wonder she never did magic when she taught DADA, she would have been unconscious at the end of every class_ " Thought Harry, and chuckled a little to himself at the last. Before he went back to the castle, Harry made his way to Hogsmeade and called a few Elves to ward all the buildings with the Dementor repelling ward. He decided to not put up the Dark Mark repelling ward since it might draw too much attention to the fact that the wars seemed to follow Harry Potter around. It would also affect Snape if he went to the village. Dobby seemed to agree with this decision. The Elf had been very quiet lately and Harry was getting a little concerned, but didn't comment on it.. He also had the Umbridge repelling ward placed on the Three Broomsticks. He wondered what would happen if Umbridge tried to apperate or use the floo to the establishment. Hopefully he would find out soon.

The next morning found Harry disillusioned and hiding in a corner of the Great Hall. He was looking forward to seeing Snape's reaction to two students proclaiming their undying love. Harry had popped back to his safe house earlier that morning and claimed one of the sets of mirrors that Sirius had made. He then woke the mangy mutt up, Sirius had the habit of sleeping in his Animagus form. He then told the man what he had set up with the potioning students and Snape. Sirius laughed so hard that Harry had to wait for ten minutes before he told Sirius to keep an eye on the mirror and that Harry would use it to give him a show. This led to where Harry was now waiting in the corner nearest to the head table.

When Harry saw the two potioning students eat, he noticed a haze appear in their eyes. They started to squirm in their seats and cast glances at the head table every minute or so, ignoring their friends. At eight Snape left the head table to give the Slytherin their class schedules. When he approached the first potions student, the male, he had no way to defend himself with all the schedules in his hands. The student stood up abruptly when Snape handed him his time table and launched himself at the man, kissing him directly on the lips. The whole hall was frozen in shock which was broken when the other potioned student screamed. "That's my man you bastard!" and proceeded to draw her wand and sent a curse at the other student. The curse missed the student but hit Snape, who was trying to push the male student away at the time, saving the student and putting himself in the line of fire. Snape sprouted boils all over his face where the spell hit and fell to the ground. At this point the first student had drawn his wand and sent a spell back at the second student for daring to attack his love. The spell missed and Harry put up a shield to protect the innocent students in the hall. At this time the first teacher had arrived and bound both students in ropes. Both student were screaming at each other and professing their love to Snape the whole time.

This was the scene that Dumbledore walked into. He let off a cannon blast from his wand to gain the attention of everyone in the hall. "Everyone calm down!" It took a minute but everyone regained their seats. "Thank you. Now can someone tell me what happened?" A bunch of students at the Slytherin table raised their hands. After talking to the closest student and Minerva he said, "Minerva, please escort the students and Severus to the hospital wing, Fillius, please assist. Now for the rest of the students, classes for today have been cancelled until we can get to the bottom of what happened." He then turned and followed the teachers out of the hall.

Harry was happy that he put a silencing spell on himself and the mirror, he was laughing so hard. He could tell that Sirius was laughing hard too. The conversation in the hall had rose to astronomical proportions at this point. Everybody was discussing what just happened with their friends and neighbors. The first years looked shocked but happy for a day without classes. The only ones that seemed upset about the cancelling of classes were Hermione and a few Ravenclaw's. Harry sought out Jr. and saw that he had a huge smile on his face and was excitedly talking to Ron, who had a similar smile.

Harry decided to go to the hospital wing to see what was happening with the students and Snape. He entered to the dulcet tones of Snape threatening to castrate both students, even if one was a girl. Madame Pomfrey was working on getting rid of the boils on his face and had bound him to the bed. Harry was sure that if he was unbound he would make good on his threat, even with the Headmaster in the room. Said Headmaster was checking over one of the students that was still bound. Since neither of them were hurt in the scuffle, Madame Pomfrey had started her treatment with Snape. Dumbledore was waving his wand over the female student and Harry could see him looking directly in her eyes. Harry assumed that he was using Legilimancy on her. When he did the same to the male student, then stood up and told McGonagall to check the students luggage, Harry knew that he was right. McGonagall returned thirty minutes later with two vials in her hands, by which point Madame Pomfrey had diagnosed both students as being under the effects of a love potion. She had started them on the flushing solution which had knocked both students out. Snape had already left the hospital wing with the other teachers.

The next day both students were called to the Headmaster office and Harry snuck in to see how the man would handle the situation. Harry was very disappointed when the Headmaster let both off with just a warning, not even asking what they planned to do with the potions found in their luggage, or assigning a detention. Dumbledore never even warned Daphne Greengrass that another student had targeted her. Sophia had told Harry that Dumbledore had Snape examine the potions that they confiscated and that Snape had found that one was keyed the the Greengrass heiress. Dumbledore had specifically told Snape not to mention it to the girl. Harry knew that he would have to do something, but he wasn't sure what yet. Snape had wanted both students expelled and Harry had to agree. Harry wondered how the man would react when the students were in his class. He would have to wait three days to find out since it was a friday.

The first day of classes passed with no new crisis arising. Several students were looking at Snape strangely and were shocked when the two students showed up at lunch. They were immediately surrounded by their friends that asked them several questions while Snape left the hall. Harry wished that he had a camera when the event took place and wondered if he could take a picture while he was inside a pensive memory. Letting that thought go for now, he turned back to what to do about the two students. He knew that the Headmaster wouldn't do anything so he needed a way for the DMLE involved. He didn't think that the two students would learn their lesson since there were no consequences for their actions. He decided to watch both students and do to them what he did to the other students last year. He would key another dose of love potion to their parents. Since they would be out of school, Dumbledore would have no say in what happened to them. If they tried to potion another student before that, Harry would figure out something else.

The weekend passed peacefully. Harry Jr. showed the map to his friends and they started to use it to explore the castle. Harry had noticed Draco spent most of the meals staring at Jr. and was getting worried. So far the dagger and cloak had stayed locked up in his trunk, but it still made Harry nervous. Sophia had assured him that Draco was being watched constantly and this did make Harry relax a little. Monday came and he female potioning student had her first potion class. Harry was hidden in the back of the room and settled to watch the show. He didn't bring out the mirror this time but promised Sirius he would tell him what happened. The class started out as Harry remembered it usually did. Snape walked in with his cape billowing behind him. He never glanced at the student, even when calling roll. He mentioned the instructions on the board and sat down behind his desk. He stayed there the entire class, not once looking up. Harry wondered what Dumbledore said to the man to get him to control his temper. At the end of the class he told everyone to fill a vial and clean up. One of the vials 'accidentally' smashed on the floor when the students were leaving. No one had to wonder who the vial belonged to. Harry knew the man would do something like that, even with Dumbledore's warning. Something similar happened when the male potioning student had class the next day. It seemed to happen during every potion class they had for the next month. This had the positive side effect for the potioning students classes of Snape not breathing down their necks, but Snape seemed to redouble his efforts in his other classes. Harry Jr. seemed to lose more points than Harry ever remembered.

There were a few things that Harry planned to change over the school year. Harry had put a stop to Malfoy getting attacked by the Hippogriff by putting a sticking charm on his robe while he was sitting down, waiting his turn with the magnificent beasts. When Draco tried to stand up his robes ripped right down the back, having been wakened by Harry. Several people laughed since Draco only had underwear on under his robes and his face turned bright red. Taking pity on the boy, Hagrid excused Draco from the lesson and he ran back to the castle to the sound of laughter from his classmates, Ron being the loudest. Things were going well in the castle during the month of September. Sophia and the Elves had stopped several small fights in the hallways and put a stop to one student, a seventh year Slytherin, setting up a private potion lab. Originally they did nothing until it was discovered that he was trying to brew polyjuice potion. Filch was led right to the hidden lab and discovered the boy red handed. Harry might not have done anything even with the polyjuice, but Sophia had reported that the student was seen collecting hairs from several female students, including first years, and had set up a camera in another room to take pictures automatically. Once again the Headmaster did practically nothing. He did assign a week's detention with Filch, but nothing else. Not even investigating or confiscating the camera. Harry had the student watched closely after that.

Now that Jr. was safely at Hogwarts and could be watched by Sophia and the Elves, Harry once again targeted known Death Eaters and 'liberated' their most valuable possessions like he did at the beginning of the summer. So far he was keeping most of the loot and storing it in one of the rooms of the Chamber of Secrets. He wasn't quite sure what to do with all of it yet. He knew that he would use some of it to frame some people like he did with the two abusive parents. He rest he figured he would sell and donate the proceeds to Muggle charities. This would piss off the blood supremacists to no end if they ever found out. All this had made the Death Eaters more paranoid, which would help Harry disguise his actions when he moved against them in a more permanent fashion later even if it made his job a little harder at the moment. He might even be able to turn a few of them against each other this way.


	10. Chapter 10

What The Chapter Ten

October started as quietly as September ended. Classes were going smoothly for Harry Jr. and his friends. Snape had calmed down somewhat and Draco was keeping a low profile. Harery noticed that his younger selves relationship with his friends had started to change. Jr. had started to focus more in his classes and took his homework more seriously. This had made Hermione happy and they were getting closer as the days flew by and Harry wondered if Jr. was starting to fancy her. He always thought of her as a sister but it seemed like Jr. might be taking it to another level. Ron was still friends with the two, but started to spend more time with Dean and Seamus since Jr. spent more time studying than playing chess. It looked like the friendship dynamic between the three had changed. Neville was still the odd man out and Harry started to think of ways to get him involved. So far he could think of nothing though.

Outside of Hogwarts, Umbridge had complained to the Minister about her not being able to get into Hogwarts and about her being ejected from the Three Broomsticks. It appears that if one is trying to floo in to a place that has a ward that will repel their magical signature, they seem to be bounced out of a random fireplace. The first time that Umbridge tried it, her party arrived safely at Hogwarts, but she shot out at tremendous speed from a fireplace in the home of Doris Grassly, a sixty year old witch that lived in Devon. Doris was surprised to find the unconscious form of Umbridge sprawled across her living room when she came to investigate the noise. Umbridge had hit her head when she was blasted out of the floo, unfortunately it was her only injury. Doris immediately called St. Mungo's and Umbridge was taken away. The second time Umbridge tried to floo to Hogwarts, she ended up shooting out of the floo at Borgin & Burkes. As like the first time, she was rendered unconscious when she hit her head on the way out of the floo. Borgin didn't bother to call St. Mungo's, he just levitated her put of his shop and dumped her on one of the side streets. When Umbridge woke up, she was missing all of her money, jewelry and her wand. She was quite lucky to be alive because a Hag was just about to discover her.

For Umbridge's third attempt, she tried to floo to the Three Broomsticks with similar results. Like with Hogwarts, her party arrived safely while she emerged from Madame Puddifoots. She sent several tables and customers flying when she blasted out of the floo, but remained conscious this time. The crash was loud enough, but Umbridge's screams of outrage brought almost the whole village of Hogsmeade to investigate the noise. Once again she started to send random curses flying while venting her rage. Like before, she was passed out from magical exhaustion after only a minute or two. Luckily the two Auror's that she brought with her arrived and took her away before the villagers did something to her unconscious body. Madame Puddifoot looked like she wanted to kill the woman for destroying her shop.

Umbridge seemed to learn after this last time and was only seen traveling by Portkey from then on. Harry wasn't sure if she could apperate or not and she seemed to be avoiding all floo travel. She did send several Ministry employees from the Department of Transportation to try and find what was affecting her with the floo system but none of whom could find anything wrong. Several complaints were starting to pile up about her behavior and she was being sued. She got out of paying damages to Madame Puddifoot by threatening to revoke her business license and was backed up by the Minister. The whole village heard about this and they all chipped in to help Madame Puddifoot repair and reopen her shop. Harry had anonymously donated a few hundred galleons to the repair effort too. Even if the shop gave him nightmares, he felt a little guilty for accidentally causing Umbridge to arrive there and cause the damage. All of this Harry had heard second hand. He wished that he could have been there to see it happen, but hearing about it was almost as good. It was the talk of the town after all. He had heard about Umbridge's other attempts by listening to the Minister complain to Dumbledore about them in the Headmasters office. Fudge was practically threatening the Headmaster who in turn placated the man with ineffectual promises that Harry knew would never come to pass. If the Headmaster didn't investigate the supposed curse on the DADA job, why would he bother with something that only seemed to affect one woman? The Headmaster had never even once tried to examine the wards and only checked the ward monitoring stone in his office. Harry was disappointed in the man but happy that the wards would remain undetected.

Remus Lupin had once again taken up the position of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Like in the previous timeline, he had not approached Jr. to tell him who he was in relation to his parents. Harry was a little disappointed but not surprised. _"Not enough has changed so far for Remus to have changed personally yet. Sirius is getting better and I might be able to bring Remus in on the fact that he's innocent. I don't think that I can tell either of them who I am really though_." thought Harry. Harry had gotten rid of the Boggot when it first made an appearance in the school. He thought that showing your deepest fear in front of all your classmates was a bad idea and so kept it from happening. There were no other memorable classes that he could remember happening in the first term so he stood back and let everything play out. The only thing of note that happened last time was getting the Marauders map, Harry sneaking out to Hogsmeade with the map, and the Dementors attacking the first Quidditch game. Harry had had already arranged for Jr. to get the map and the wards should keep the Dementors away. It should also be a Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match since Draco was never hurt and had no reason to change opponents, he was wrong The changing of the opponents still did happen though because Draco quit the Quidditch team. Snape could be seen yelling at the young Malfoy and demanded that his team be given more time to train up their new seeker, a sixth year who showed more promise than Draco ever did. Gryffindor would be playing Hufflepuff again and the weather was looking like it would be the same too. Harry hoped that his younger self would catch the snitch this time. He didn't begrudge Cedric the win, but would like to keep a perfect record. Missing the last game in first year didn't count. Draco never gave a reason but it did remind Harry of when he left everything else slide by the wayside when he had the mission to kill Dumbledore in his sixth year. This did not bode well and Harry doubled the watch on Draco. He also put of his planned raid of Malfoy manor since he didn't want to give Draco another reason to go after Jr.. Harry knew that Draco wouldn't be able to acquire the dagger or the cloak without the help of his mother and that made both targets for the future.

The game was still two weeks away and it was now October thirty first, Halloween. Harry knew that Sirius would not be breaking into the castle this time and wondered if anything else would happen. This was the first Hogsmeade weekend and the Potter luck still seemed to be in effect. Jr. did sneak out of the castle using the map and ran afoul of McGonagall while wandering the village. Since she was the one to collect the permission forms she knew that Harry wasn't allowed out. It was just bad luck that she happened to need something from the local apothecary and saw Harry and his friends emerge from Honeydukes. She marched Jr. back to the castle and assigned a month of detentions. Harry figured that she was over reacting because of the 'threat' of Sirius Black. Fortunately she never discovered the Marauders Map or even asked how Jr. got out of the castle. Another example of not even giving a cursory investigation into misdeeds by the staff, fortunately it helped Jr in this case. Harry heard Jr talking to Ron and Hermione later about bringing his invisibility cloak along on the next Hogsmeade weekend. Harry didn't know if he would be successful because he was sure that McGonagall would be watching Jr. closely. It was a shame that Jr. couldn't explore the village so Harry left a bag full of his favorite treats on Jr's bed that night. Harry liked everything so he knew that Jr. would too. When he was able to clear Sirius's name and have him appointed Jr's magical guardian, he would get a permission slip signed for him.

Now that Harry Jr. was back at Hogwarts and hopefully would never return to the Dursley's, Harry decided to get a little vengeance. Dudley might have started to come around at the end, but the rest of them never showed him the slightest bit of human kindness. Dudley didn't even start showing him kindness until Harry had saved his life, or his soul, from the Dementor's. At this point in time, he was still a bully and needed to be taught a lesson.

Harry started his revenge with Uncle Vernon. He started small, with magical laxatives in his coffee. The difference between magical and muggle laxatives is that muggle ones help you go and magical ones MADE you go. Harry made sure to slip him the laxatives right as he was on his way to work. It kicked in when Vernon was on the road. Harry laughed from his hidden spot in the living room as Uncle Vernon's car reappeared at #4 Privet Drive and his uncle ran in the house. Vernon missed work that day, spending it on the toilet. He did this several times over the year. Vernon was too stubborn to go to the hospital and blamed Petunia's cooking and the fact that a freak lived with them. He was surprisingly correct that the freak had something to do with it, just not the one he was thinking about. Just for fun, Harry did the same to Aunt Petunia when she was at one of her neighbor's house. Petunia would never go over there again.

Next, Harry wanted his 'old' Uncle Vernon to feel the claustrophobia he felt in his cupboard. He waited until Vernon was alone in an elevator at work before trapping him. Harry had disabled the elevator by frying the circuits. He also magically sealed the doors and silenced the whole elevator so Vernon's shouts could not be heard. He also put an 'Out of Order' sign on the outside of the elevator on all the floors. There were two elevators so this didn't cause too many problems for the other employees. It was two days later when the elevator repair men found a filthy Vernon in the disabled elevator. He had used one of the corners as a bathroom and he and the elevator smelled awful. Nobody took that elevator again if they could help it.

While Vernon was stuck in the elevator, Petunia had freaked out and called the police to report that Vernon was missing. All the neighbors had a lot to talk about when the police came to take her report. Most of the neighbors speculated that maybe Vernon had run away with another woman. These rumors were helped along when Harry forged a love letter to Vernon and delivered it to the biggest neighborhood gossip's house. As expected, she opened the note and the rumor spread like wildfire. When it was discovered that Vernon was stuck in an elevator, the comments changed from 'cheating bastard' to things like 'fat ass probably broke the elevator,' and 'Good thing his whale of a son wasn't with him.' Petunia wasn't invited to many of the neighbors' houses after that. Many of the more aggressive gossips still invited her, but more to get gossip than to share it.

To recover from his ordeal, Vernon took two weeks off of work and he and Petunia went to visit his sister Marge. While they were gone, Harry put the house up for sale and arranged an open house. All it took was using the same Confundus spell on the real estate broker that he used on the Dursleys over the summer to treat Harry better. Many potential buyers and all of the neighbors showed up to look through the house. People were shocked to find that one of the bedrooms had several locks on it and a cat flap on the bottom. Several of the neighbors also remembered that there were once bars on the outside of the window. There were also no pictures of the other boy that lived at the house. This caused a new round of gossip to circulate. Most just remembered that the Dursley's said he was a delinquent, others started to question this assertion. They had never seen him cause any trouble; in fact he seemed to do most of the chores around the house. They had also noticed that the other boy seemed to be the one causing problems. Vernon almost had a heart attack when he and Petunia returned from his sisters and saw a for sale sign on his yard and strangers in his house. He screamed so much that he passed out. Petunia just fainted. A neighbor called an ambulance; otherwise they were just left passed out on their lawn.

Harry had debated on whether or not he should slip them some truth serum, but decided against it on the chance that the magic in general might be revealed. He did replace the windows of the house with magically altered ones. The magically altered windows amplified sound so that every conversation the Dursley's had in their house could be heard clearly by their neighbors. It was a lucky thing that House lf magic couldn't be detected by the Ministry, another prime example of wizards not taking the House Elves seriously. The Dursley's were fast becoming the most talked about and hated neighbors on the block.

Other than the elevator, Harry had fun doing small things to Vernon while he was at work. He often caused doors to open in Vernon's path or refuse to open when he tried to either enter or exit a room. Several papers in Vernon's inbox seemed to magically disappear and phone calls seemed to disconnect on their own. Harry changed the labeling on signs to the restroom doors when Vernon had to go, this made Vernon walk into the women's restroom. Harry changed the signs back as soon as Vernon entered and a moment later there were several female screams. Harry loved the House Elves' ability to go unnoticed. Harry also applied a similar charm to the windows at the Dursley's house to Vernon's office door and several of the Grunnings' employees were treated to Vernon's grumblings when he thought that he was in private. Vernon was called to Human Resources several times because of complaints, which made him say even worse things. It was a vicious cycle that gave Harry several laughs. Another thing that Harry liked doing was blowing out Vernon's tires when he was on his way to work. He especially liked to do this when Vernon had an important meeting. He always made sure that no one was hurt because of his actions: he usually popped the tires when Vernon was stopped at a red light.

Most of Harry's ire was set on Vernon, but he didn't forget his other tormentors. Petunia had her fair share of unusual occurrences happen to her. Other than the magical laxative, Harry had vanished her money and credit cards when she went out grocery shopping. The money and cards were waiting for her back on the kitchen table at home, but the embarrassing situation of having to put everything back had already occurred. Harry did this several times and Petunia got a reputation as a forgetful woman. Following the success of the fake love note, Harry used Petunias credit cards to order several sex toys mainly focusing on S&M and other embarrassing items. Like before, he had them 'accidentally' delivered to the gossipy neighbor's house. She profusely apologized to Petunia for accidentally opening the packages and Petunia vehemently denied ordering them. The damage had already been done. Harry had also signed Petunia and Vernon up for all sorts of magazine subscriptions ranging from baby magazines to clown aficionado to the X-rated fare, especially the obscure X-rated fare. He had once again had them 'accidentally' delivered to the nosey neighbor's house to similar results. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia strived to maintain their standing in the community, and that was what Harry was striving to destroy. He was extremely successful so far. Petunia also suffered from premature hair loss thanks to a hair removal potion that Harry had slipped into her shampoo. The wig that she wore was so obvious that it fooled no one. Harry also added some itching powder to the wig so she was constantly scratching at it. Petunia and Vernon used the same Shampoo so Vernon, too, lost all of his hair, he didn't use a wig though. Too bad he didn't wash his mustache. Do disturb their nighttime; Harry charmed their bathroom sink to drip constantly. He added a sound amplifying charm to it to make it almost unbearable.

Although embarrassment was the most effective weapon for his dear Aunt and Uncle, Harry had no problem causing some harm to Vernon's sister Marge. Her recent diatribe about his parents that he had to endure, for the second time, left Harry with a desire to see her suffer. At first, he had let her be, but after the Dursley's returned from their vacation, he struck. The first thing he did was place the sound amplifying charms at her place. Instead of putting it on her house, he placed them on the kennels. This kept her up because Harry kept annoying the dogs late at night. Having to only sleep for four hours a night came in handy for late night adventures. Many of her neighbors made noise complaints and the police were called several times. Harry also weakened all of the leashes that she used to walk her dogs so that they would break when the dogs started to pull. She spent a lot of time chasing after her dogs and received several tickets for having a dog off the leash. Many of the police in the area didn't like the unpleasant woman and her dogs and were more than happy to write her tickets that they would normally only give a warning for. He also slipped her favorite dog Ripper food that caused him to have explosive diarrhea. Harry liked most animals, but there was nothing good in that dog so he had felt no guilt over his actions. As an early Christmas gift to himself, He charmed Marge's clothes to smell like the tastiest steak and opened all the kennels. Marge didn't spend a lot of money on dog food and all the hungry dogs swarmed the woman, ripping at her clothes and sometimes biting her skin, rather viciously, Harry found. Harry wanted the woman hurt, but not killed, so he did this when someone else was visiting the awful woman. The other person was able to drive off the dogs and call an ambulance for Marge. Animal control came while Marge was in the hospital and removed all her beloved pets. She was fined so heavily, the police had gotten fed up with her by now, that she had to sell her house to pay for everything and move in with Vernon. As reminder of her attack, she had a limp for the rest of her life and several scars that matched Harry's.

Several of the neighborhood bullies were also on Harry's revenge list. Since they were still kids he decided to not do anything physical to them, even if they did beat him up. For the kids that were still at the local school, he snuck drugs into their lockers or bags and called the police. They were all arrested and sent to juvenile hall. They denied the drugs but many other students came forward and made complaints to the police when the bullies were arrested, so the judge declared they were not to go free until they reached the age of majority. For Dudley and his best friend Peirs Polkis, who were at Smeltings, Harry did something similar. He planted drugs on Peirs and got him arrested, but for Dudley, he just planted some stolen items in his room. Dudley was expelled from the school immediately, and was forced to go to the local school. He denied stealing most of the items that were found in his room, but some of it he had actually stolen. With all his friends already arrested, or being on probation, Dudley became the outcast that he once made Harry become. All the teachers looked at him with contempt and the students shunned him. Even with his imposing physique the other kids were no longer afraid of him without his friends to back him up. They also knew that they could get him into trouble easily.


	11. Chapter 11

What The Chapter Eleven

The first Quidditch match of the season was a rainy and dreary affair. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were once again playing and the weather didn't seem to like either team. Cedric and Harry had almost been struck by lightning twice already and neither one had a clue to where the snitch might be. Hermione had once again come rushing into the Gryffindor's team tent during one of the breaks and charmed Jr's glasses imperturbable. Harry added a warming charm to the team's uniforms before they took off again. To be fair he did the same to the Hufflepuff's. The game lasted much longer this time since there was no Dementor involvement and Jr. ended up catching the snitch this time around. Harry had brought a mirror to the game so Sirius was able to watch Jr. fly. The celebration in Griffindor tower that night had a few extra cases of Butterbeer and snacks provided by Harry who was hidden in a corner watching the festivities. The twins were once again the life of the party but Harry noticed Jr getting more involved with his housemates than he ever had before. Harry was happy to see his younger self starting to open up and relax with other people. Harry had a case of Butterbeer delivered to the Hufflepuff dorms to make up for taking away Cedric's win.

Life was the most peaceful in Hogwarts that Harry could ever remember, even with the threat of Sirius Black and the Dementors. The wards had kept the Dementors away from the school and Harry knew that Sirius wasn't a threat. So far Jr. hadn't been in any life threatening situations and Harry vowed to keep it that way. To that end, Harry had kept a close eye on Draco Malfoy. The boy had spent most of the term in his common room, only coming out for meals and classes. He was seen talking to several upper year Slytherin's and Harry did all that he could to hear the conversations. So far no mention of attacking Jr. was mentioned but Harry could tell that Draco was laying the groundwork. The most damming conversation to date was one between Draco and a sixth year named Hironimus Maxley.

"I understand that your family is in some financial trouble." Said Draco, approaching the sixth year boy.

"What's it to you Malfoy!"Snapped Maxley.

"Easy friend. I only mention it because I might be able to…lend a hand."

Maxley looked at the Malfoy scion with incredulity. "And what could a little boy like you do to help? Your father is no more and your house remains without a head."

Draco snarled at the mention of his father but composed himself and answered, "As you know, I will be able to claim headship of the Malfoy family when I turn fourteen, that is only a year away. Until then my mother has access to a large portion of the family wealth."

Harry didn't know that one could claim headship of a family at fourteen. He wondered if he, or more precisely Jr. could claim it next year. He had always heard that his family had a long history, but no one ever told him about it. He would have to look into it and maybe ask Sophia and Sirius. Sirius came from another long lined family and he should know. Another thing that Dumbledore never explained,. Since Harry knew that Dumbledore knew that he was a Horcrux, it was looking like a deliberate attempt to keep Harry ignorant.

Draco continued, "I will be able to use that wealth to… help your situation."

Harry had to stifle a little laugh. He had recently 'liberated' a substantial amount of that wealth that the Malfoys had hidden.

Maxley responded, "And what will be in it for you?"

"I might have a …task that needs to be handled. I would be appreciative if you might help with the task."

"And what task might that be?"

"All in good time. Are you interested?"

"I will listen but make no promises."

"Acceptable. I will discuss it with you later when I have more in place." Said Draco, and he went back towards Crabbe and Goyle.

This conversation had alarmed Harry but he didn't want to intervene yet. Part of him wanted to see what else Draco might be planning, another part just wanted to take care of Draco right now. So far he had set up several people, some of whom had been killed, but he hadn't killed anyone himself, at least not in this timeline. He didn't want to start with someone that he knew, especially a young kid, but he knew it might come to that. Harry popped back to the Room of Requirement and called out for Sophia.

" _Yes my son?"_

We need to watch Hironimus Maxley closely. He seems to be getting involved with Draco Malfoy."

" _It will be done_."

"Thanks. Do you know anything about the Potter family?"

"I _know many things. What do you have in mind specifically?"_

"Well, I heard Draco mention that he will become the head of the Malfoy family when he turns fourteen. I was wondering if Jr. is head of the Potter family? Will he be able to claim Headship and what does that mean?"

"T _he Potter family is an Ancient and Noble family and can trace its lineage back over three thousand years. They were involved in the founding of the Ministry of Magic and were one of the early patrons of Hogwarts_."

"Wow, I never knew any of that. What does that mean for Jr?" ' _How come no one ever mentioned that to me before?_ ' Harry thought.

" _It has been written into law that the Heir of a Noble, Ancient, or Ancient and Noble family can claim Headship if the family has no Head or the Head is permanently unable to fulfill the Headship role. When Jr. turns fourteen he can go to Gringotts and claim the Headship of the Potter family. He will have to seek out the Potter account manager and prove his identity_. Neville Longbottom has the same right."

Harry interrupted, "How would he do that?"

" _The Goblins have their own magic and have ways of confirming lineage. It usually requires a little blood from the person to confirm the identity_."

"That doesn't sound too bad. What else?"

" _If the identity is confirmed than all that would be required is to claim the title of Head of Family_."

"That's it?"

" _That is all that is required_."

"What does it mean to be Head of House?"

" _Jr. will become immediately emancipated and have access to all the Potter Family vaults_ ,"

Harry interrupted again, "Vaults!? I have more than one?"

" _The Potter family is an Ancient and Noble family, you should have at least an Heirloom and money vault. Several family's also have business vaults to separate their personal finances from business dealings. Others have vaults set up for individual family members. I believe that is how your trust vault was set up_."

Harry was quiet for a moment. ' _I have more than one vault? Damn you Dumbledore. I wonder why Sirius never mentioned this? Being emancipated would have kept me from being accused of using underage before fifth year. At least I think so_.' He thought. "What does emancipation grant me, I mean Jr.?"

" _He will be considered an adult in the Wizarding world. All the responsibilities of being an adult will apply to him_."

"Such as?"

" _He will be responsible for all investments and debts. He will have the ability to create contracts and have a seat on the Wizengamot_."

"Really?"

" _Yes_."

"That could have come in handy last time. What would Jr. have to do to claim the Wizengamot seat and would he have to always go to all the meetings?"

" _Jr. would have to attend a Wizengamot meeting after he has claimed emancipation. There are a few books that describe the proper etiquette for claiming the seat that I can recommend. He can then claim the seat for himself or name a proxy_."

"A proxy?"

" _Yes, someone that will take the Wizengamot seat and hopefully vote how you would like_."

"Is there a proxy for the Potter seat right now, or is the seat empty?"

" _Headmaster Dumbledore has claimed proxy for the Potter seat when he claimed magical guardianship of Harry Potter twelve years ago_."

"Son of a bitch! Well I guess that explains why he never told me. It would deprive him some more power. Wait a minute, what does it mean for him to be my, Jr's magical guardian? Does he have access to any of the Potter vaults? Has he been stealing from me?"

" _I do not know if he has stolen from you. If he has it has been done outside the castle. I do not believe that he would be able to take money from the Potter vaults. I understand that a magical guardian does get a stipend of up to one thousand galleons a year to care for their charge. It all depends on how the family set up the bequest."_

"Well then he has been stealing from me since I never was under his care and no money was ever spent on me. One thousand galleons, that's one hundred seventy thousand pounds! That's a fortune! That bastard!"

" _I am not sure how much, if any money the Headmaster has taken for your care_."

"At this point it doesn't matter. The fact is that he could have checked in on me and used some of the money for my care. I wouldn't have had to wear my cousins hand me downs and hopefully gotten more food. I wonder if the Dursley's ever received any money for my care and if so how much? If so the revenge I started will look tame in comparison to what I will do. I also wonder if Dumbs used my money to settle Mrs. Figg in the neighborhood. He might have been able to lie to himself and claim that he was looking out for me."

" _I do not know_."

"I'm definitely not going to approach the Headmaster if I can help it. I don't trust him at this point."

" _He might be useful in your attempt in regaining a body_."

"Maybe, but the cost might be too high."

" _It is your decision_."

The conversation ended there. Harry studied some new magic to calm down His next stop was to talk to Sirius about the Potter family Headship. Sirius had been recovering nicely and been getting stronger in magic and health. It was almost time for Sirius to start learning the ritual to remove the soul from the Horcruxes. It was also time to start to introduce himself to Jr. and Lupin and get them thinking that Sirius might be innocent.

One weekend while Jr. was wondering the halls alone, Harry made his move. "Harry Potter Sirs."

"Dobby! Are you OK? nobody told me anything about what happened to you after Mr. Malfoy was killed." replied Jr.

"Dobby bes good Harry Potter." Harry hated talking like a regular House Elf, but he had to pretend to be Dobby to keep his real identity from his younger self.

"Well I'm glad that you're OK."

"Dobby happy to hears that Harry Potter is glad. Dobby has secret to tells Harry Potter."

"A secret?"

"Yes, a secret. Harry Potter nots in danger from Mr. Blacks."

"Are you going to try and protect me again? It didn't work out to well for me the last time."

"No, no, no. Dobby understands that's Dobby made a mistakes. No Dobby knows for a true fact thats Mr. Blacks be innocent of betraying Harry Potters parents and killings muggles."

Harry Jr. was stunned silent at hearing this proclamation. When he recovered he said, "How could you possibly know that Black is innocent?"

Dobby knows who really dids it."

"Who? Who really betrayed my parents?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"But Black murdered him."

"No he dids not. The bad man framed Mr. Black ands escapes justice. He still bes alive."

"How do you know this?"

"Dobby has seens him."

"So you know where he is? Do you also know where Sirius Black is?"

"Dobby knows, but Dobby cants tell. Bad people would kills Mr. Black insteads of admitting theys made a mistakes."

"I'm sure the Ministry would protect him."

Bad peoples bes in the Ministry. Bad people never gave Mr. Black a trials or evens questions hims to sees if he bes guilty."

"That can't be right. That isn't fair."

"Bad peoples not bes fair."

"How do I know that you are telling the truth?"

Harry expected this, but it still hurt. He couldn't say that it was because he was him only from the future, so he said, "Asks professor Loony abouts the Marauders."

"The Marauders? The same people that are mentioned on the map the twins gave me? And do you mean professor Lupin?"

"Yes, Asks hims who theys bes. Makes sure he tells yous who theys bes and whats theys cans do. Tells hims thats Wormtail still bes alive."

"He'll probably want to know why I'm asking him. And who's Wormtail?"

"Wormtail bes bad man. Tells hims thats Padfoot wills contact hims later with proofs. Asks hims abouts trial. Show hims this picture." Harry handed Jr. a wizarding picture of a man that Jr. recognized as Sirius Black from the wanted posters. Sirius was holding an unconscious rat in his hand and was twirling it around, showing all of the rat. He was also holding up the cover of yesterday's Daily Prophet.

"What's with the rat?"

"Professor Loopy wills know. Dobby musts bes goin' now. Cans Dobby bes takin' picture of Harry Potter?"

"I, I guess."

Dobby snapped his fingers and a camera appeared in his hands. There was a blinding flash and the Elf and the camera were gone when Jr's vision cleared.

Harry was still in the hallway but was hidden by a disillusionment spell. He watched as Jr. recovered his vision then headed to Professor Lupin's office. The reaction on Lupin's face when Jr finally got around to telling him about his conversation with Dobby and he saw the picture was a memory that Harry would definitely have to show Sirius. Lupin went from unbelieving, to shocked to sad. He had tears flowing from his eyes when Jr. left the office. The encounter didn't do much to bond both people, but it was a start. Taking the picture was a calculated risk. Sirius was much better but there was still a murderous rage when it came to Wormtail. Harry had to give him a large dose of calming draught to make sure that he didn't kill the rat. The rat was 'accidently' dropped several times before the picture was taken though.

It was now time to lay some more groundwork in getting Sirius a trial. This would also be a twofold attack. The Target was Barty Crouch. If successful he would ruin the reputation of the elder Crouch and recapture the younger Crouch, denying Voldie of another follower. The problem was that Crouch Sr. was a paranoid man and Harry knew that he had a loyal House Elf, so his house was out as a place to attack. Fortunately the Ministry was wide open to a House Elf.

Harry popped into Crouch Sr's office early one morning. Crouch was an early riser and Harry knew that he had about an hour from when Crouch arrived until the first employee of the department showed up. Crouch settled at his desk and started to do paperwork when Harry struck. He used a House Elf stunner on the man who slumped on to the desk. Harry than used a compulsion potion that would make the man very susceptible to suggestion. Harry had considered using the Imperius on the man but wasn't sure that he could overcome his defenses. Crouch was an accomplished wizard and Harry didn't want to take any chances. He made the suggestion for Crouch to call Winky and have her bring Crouch Jr. to the office. When she had done that, he would hide him in a corner and then call a department meeting. Harry would wait until the meeting was well underway before causing a magical explosion that would knockout senior and junior. To be on the safe side, Harry used Crouch Sr's wand to cast several Imperius's into the air so if and when the wand was checked, it would show the unforgivable That he knew that Crouch had placed on his son. Harry believed that he could get Crouch to summon his son by suggesting that he would be keeping an eye on him and he would still be hidden. Harry knew that Crouch had brought his son to the Quidditch World Cup so he was willing to take some risks.

Barty awoke a few minutes later. It took him a few minutes to recover and then he called for Winky. Harry was a little worried that the Elf would be able to sense him in the room, but she never said anything. Crouch ordered her to bring his son and then wait at home for him to call her again. When the Elf popped away, he placed his son in a corner under an invisibility cloak and cast a notice-me-not in the area. He settled back down and continued his paperwork. When 10:00 came around, he called a meeting and when all the employees that were in the office showed up, Harry struck.

Harry let off several wizarding fireworks in the office and used the distraction to stun both Crouches and removed the notice-me-not and the invisibility cloak from junior. When order had been reestablished in the room, several shouts were heard about the stranger in the room. Aurors were called for and after a senior officer recognized Crouch Jr., Amelia Bones was called in. Harry had left another note on her desk telling her to be ready for a surprise that day. Seeing a supposedly dead man would definitely qualify as a surprise. Both Crouches were placed in holding cells and Junior was questioned under veritaserum. Amelia got away with dosing a pureblood by the fact that "he was supposed to be dead. It was the only way to find out who the imposter was." This is what she claimed when the trial came up. The questioning of Crouch Jr. led to the revelation of his father switching him for his dying mother and sneaking him out of Azkaban. Veritasirum couldn't be used on Crouch Sr. but an investigation of his wand showed Harry's unforgivable curse. Harry believed that Crouch would clear his wand or use another one when placing the curse on his son. He was right. They never checked Crouch Sr. for potions so Harry involvement went unnoticed. Harry left another note on Amelia's desk asking her to question Crouch Sr. on why Sirius Black never got a trial. These questions and Crouch's disgrace should lay some more groundwork for getting Sirius a fair trial. When Peter was revealed it should guarantee it. To be sure, Harry's next target would be Fudge and Umbridge. The Capture of Pettigrew should help Amelia's chances of taking over the Ministers position too.


	12. Chapter 12

What The Chapter Twelve

Trying to find a way to get rid of Fudge and Umbridge was difficult. Harry had no problem with whatever happened to the toad, but Fudge was just an incompetent and corrupt person. Harry didn't feel that the man deserved death, but how to get him out of office in a way that would not be countered by his supporters. Nobody liked Crouch so it was easy to remove him. People were scared of Umbridge but no one would miss her when Harry acted. Fudge though did a lot of favors for the pureblood elite and they wouldn't like to see their esteemed (easily bribed) Minister go.

A solution presented itself when Harry was studying the history of magical locations in Britain. Several locations had mystical pasts and a select few had gained a modicum of sentience. The Tower of London was such a sentient location, like Hogwarts. The tower has a reputation with the wizards and they avoid it at all costs, it had the reputation of stripping witches and wizards of their power. Talking to Sophia, Harry discovered what it really does is ''sort' a wizards (British citizens only) fidelity to Britain and the crown. If the wizard is supportive to the country and the crown and did nothing to harm it'd citizens, they are judged acceptable and nothing happened. This is why muggleborns that visit don't know about its cursed history, because they don't often get affected. Many wizards that are loyal to Britain but not the crown, but do nothing against the citizens of Britain are released without incident but get a bad feeling from the place and usually never return. If the person is against Britain or the crown and judged to have done something against its citizens, they are judged and stripped of their magic, or other more suitable punishments. This sounded like a perfect solution.

Since Umbridge only traveled by Portkey now, it would be a simple procedure to redirect the landing zone to the Tower. Harry knew that she wouldn't be leaving the tower with her magic. That would be a worse punishment than death for the vile woman. She would then be subject to many of the same laws that restricted squibs that she pushed through. The only reason Harry hadn't sent her off to her fate yet was because he was waiting for her to share her Portkey with the Minister. Harry believed that Fudge would also leave the Tower a squib, but if he didn't he would know right away that Umbridge was now one.

Since no opportunities were arising, Harry decided to make his own. He sent a note to Umbridge that requested her presence to discuss the upcoming trial of Crouch. There was a compulsion on the letter that would have her bring the Minister to the meeting. It would have been impossible to get the compulsion on a letter to the Minister but it was easy to get one to his Undersecretary. Harry teased that Crouch was connected to the escape of Sirius Black and that it would be good for public opinion if she and the Minister heard what was to be said. There were coordinates that were included in the note and they would have to provide their own Portkey. Harry knew that he could change the destination of the Portkey after they made it and that they wouldn't trust any Portkey that was provided. Umbridge made her way directly to the Ministers office and she was able to convince him to accompany her, anything to increase his public opinion. Fudge had two Portkeys created, the first one sent a team of Aurors to secure the location, When he would get the all clear sign, he would Portkey with Umbridge and two Aurors to the location.

When the time came the first team of Aurors signaled the all clear and the second party took off. Instead of landing in the designated point, the party of four arrived at the Tower of London. Three of the party immediately fell to the ground screaming while the fourth had a feeling of dread overcome him that was so powerful that he thought that he was being attacked by a Dementor. It took him a few minutes to recover his senses before he was able to grab the Minister and Portkey away, leaving the other Auror and the Undersecretary writhing on the floor. When both of the Auror and the Undersecretary were discovered wandering outside the visitors entrance the next day, it was discovered that the Auror was now a squib and Umbridge was now a muggle. The Auror still had a little magic left. Not enough to use but enough to see magic around him. Umbridge on the other hand had no magic left in her body. She couldn't even see the visitor's entrance to the Ministry. When they were discovered, they were taken to St. Mungos immediately. The Minister was also at the hospital and his diagnosis wasn't looking good. The Auror that rescued him had made a full recovery but the Minister was looking like he had lost most of his magic. At the moment he was unconscious, but when he woke his condition would be determined.

Harry felt sorry for a moment about the Auror that became a squib, but realized that it was magic itself that judged him unworthy of the gift. He wondered what would happen to him if he ever went to the Tower, but let the thought go. Director Bones was called in to investigate what had happened. The recovered Auror submitted a memory of the event and it was determined later by the Department of Mysteries that the location was the Tower of London. Harry had gotten rid of the actual note that he sent Umbridge and replace it with one that had no compulsion charm on it. The Aurors were unable to extract memories from Umbridge while she was unconscious and confirmed the story and compare it to the clean note. They also were able to use legillamancy on her and discovered all of her dirty little secrets. She protested and said that it was illegal since she was the Undersecretary to the Minister.. Amelia was smiling when she related the law that Umbridge herself pushed through the Wizengamot that made it perfectly legal to use Legillamancy on a muggle, and Umbridge was now a muggle.

When the Minister had woken, it was discovered that he now registered as a squib even if he could get his wand to light up with the Lumos spell. It was the only spell that worked for him though. Umbridge had had a breakdown when her diagnosis was explained to her and she had to be stunned. It probably would have been better if a healer had explained her condition, but Amelia insisted that she would explain it to her when she questioned her about what happened. Amelia took great pleasure in stunning the woman. So far the healers hadn't woken her back up yet. While the Minister and the Undersecretary were in the hospital, the story of their condition was leaked to the Daily Prophet. Harry had stood disillusioned next to one of the Aurors in the room when the diagnosis was delivered and submitted the memory to a reporter at the paper. The next day there was a huge headline that claimed "Minister of Magic A Squib!" This had set Amelia on the warpath to discover who had leaked the story. Harry didn't send her a note this time, he wanted to keep his presence well away from the coming shit storm.

The now squib Auror was awarded a settlement for his injury and released the following week. Harry found out that his family later disavowed him and he ended up leaving the magical world. The only good side for Harry as that the man had no children. Umbridge never calmed down and it was determined to Obliviate her memory of the magical world and let her go into the muggle one, since she was now one. Umbridge had refused to learn anything about the muggle world when she was growing up, so her memory was that of a five year old when they got through with the Obliviation. She knew how to speak but nothing else about the world around her. She was left at a street corner in central London and was immediately hit by a car when she wandered into the middle of the street. She survived and was hospitalized. It took her months to recover and she was committed to an insane asylum for the rest of her life.

Fudge on the other hand was able to hold on to his office for three more weeks. When it was proven to the public that he was no better than a squib, he was ousted. He left the office willingly when he received a guarantee that no investigation into his term in office would be forthcoming. Amelia didn't like it but agreed to keep the peace. She was named interim Minister of Magic until a proper election could be called. Normally the position of Minister would be taken by the Undersecretary, but she was unavailable. There would be an emergency Wizengamot meeting called to announce the candidates for the position but a new Minister wouldn't be elected until the next scheduled Wizengamot meeting that wouldn't be until the third of March.

Harry left the mess that was the Ministry of Magic alone for now. He didn't see anything that he could add to make the situation better so he did nothing. Well he did nothing in the Ministry. Harry started to devote more time into getting rid of the Death Eater threat. It would make Jr's future safer and hopefully make it easier to get Amelia elected as Minister. He had already been popping into the known Death Eaters houses and "liberating" all the valuables that he could find. He had recently started to collect all the books he found at their manors too, planning to donate it all to the Hogwarts library at a future time. The money he had collected from looting the properties had been donated to several muggle charities and he was planning to use several of the heirlooms to frame prominent Death Eaters. It was now time to start.

Deciding to leave the Malfoy family alone for the moment, not wanting to push Draco into any premature action, Harry started with the Carrow twins. He knew that they were vicious reprobates and would act rashly to any perceived insult. To insure the insult, Harry "accidently left behind a pin that had the Rowle family crest on it when he robbed their house, I mean liberated their possessiions. He then planted several of the Carrow family heirlooms at the Rowle manor, He left the ones that had a tracking charm placed by the Carrows thenselves. Many of the dark families had started to do this when the robberies were first discovered. It only took a few hours before the Carrows flooed to the Rowle manor. Rowle greeted them pleasantly, not knowing that he had been set up yet. Alecto immediately sent a Cruciatus curse at the man and he was struck, being taken by surprise. While Alecto kept the Curse on Rowle, Amycus searched the manor and discovered several of their heirlooms. He returned to his sister to tell her he was successful in recovering some of their property but couldn't find everything. Alecto stopped the torture curse on Rowle to question him about the location of the rest of their stuff when Harry acted. He had recovered Rowles wand when he dropped it when placed under the Cruciatus. Still disillusioned, he sent a cutting curse at Amycus's neck from behing Rowle. Allecto saw her brother neck open up and blood start to gush out. In her blind rage caused her to send an Avada Kedavra at Rowle, who she thought had sent the curse. Rowle was struck dead while Harry sent a stunner at Alecto. Harry placed Rowle's wand back in to his hands and popped out to send an anonymous tip to the Aurors of what happened at Rowle Manor while Amycus not so slowly blead to death. " _Three more Death Eaters taken care of."_ Harry thought as he returned to Hogwarts.

Harry next targets were Crabbe and Goyle Sr.. Harry decided that an accident was in their future. He snuck into Crabbe's house late one night and replaced his hangover cure potion with a badly brewed variety that would act like a poison. He then put a compulsion on Crabbe to invite Goyle over to discuss the robberies. He added a compulsion to have the men start drinking. When Goyle arrived the next day, the men started drinking right away. Harry felt that he shouldn't have bothered to add the compulsion for the men to start drinking. Harry kept filling their glasses and before too long both men had passed out. They were found the next morning by Crabbe's wife who offered both men the hangover cure potion. Both men drank down the potion and immediately started to convulse. Crabbe's wife was frozen in shock and didn't recover until both men had stopped moving entirely. She screamed and flooed to the Ministry. A group of Aurors arrived at the manor and discovered the two dead bodies. An investigation discovered the tainted hangover cure potion and it was determined that Crabbe had brewed it himself. This was discovered by Veritisirum testimony from Crabbe's wife. She didn't want any doubt of her innocence and volunteered to testify under the potion. After a short investigation, it was determined to be an accident and Harry involvement was never discovered. Harry let Crabbe's wife get off was because she didn't have the Dark Mark.

· Harry's next step was to track down Fenrir Greyback. He found him in the Hamsterley Forest in the north. Harry placed a tracking charm on the man and left to set up the rest of his plan. Harry made his way to the Nott residence and put a compulsion of the senior Nott to call a meeting of all the known Death Eaters that he knew. The meeting was being planned for the night of the full moon, which was five days away. The night of the full moon several known and a few unknown Death Eaters showed up to the meeting to discuss the recent robberies and the upcoming trials of Crouch Jr. and Sr. and Alecto Carrow. Everything was well under way when a snarling Werewolf was portkeyed directly into the middle of the meeting. Three Death Eaters were mauled before anyone had a chance to react. Several had tried to apperate away but were stopped by the anti-apperation and anti-portkey wards that Harry had erected the moment the Werewolf arrived. Two of the five that tried to apperate were splinched and had only a moment to wonder what happened before the Werewolf found them. Several others started to send curses at the Werewolf who dodged almost all of them. The ones that the Werewolf didn't dodge didn't seem to have much of a effect. Several Death Eaters fell by their compatriot's misfired spells while others fell to the Werewolf's actions.

· Harry waited outside the meeting room until the noise died down before popping into the room to find out what happened. He arrived to a scene of horror with torn up bodies everywhere. He almost lost his lunch at the smell that assaulted his senses and had to steady himself. That almost proved to be a fatal mistake. Fenrir lunged at Harry and almost tore his head off if Harry hadn't popped to another part of the room. He forgot to disillusion himself when he popped into the room and it almost proved to be a fatal oversite. Harry popped around the room some more to confuse the Werewolf, he wasn't affected the anti-apperation and anti-portkey wards since he used the House Elf mode of transportation. Harry picked up one of the wand that were lying around, he didn't know who's, and sent several spells at the wounded Werewolf. He then summoned on of the silver daggers that he had taken from one of the Death Eaters homes and banished into the Werewolf's heart. Fenrir screamed in rage and agony when the dagger srtuck true and a moment later he was dead. So ended the threat of the most wanted Werewolf in all of British history.

· Harry knew that several families would sleep more peacefully knowing that the monster was gone, Remus Lupin included. It would also save Bill Weasley from the mauling that he received in the future. Harry wondered if it would change the relationship between Bill and Fleur, which brought up the thought if they would even get together this time around. Harry didn't know if the Tri-Wizard Tournament would be held this time and if it was he planned to de everything he could to keep his younger self out of it. If that was the case than the Weasleys would never come to wish him luck in the final task and Bill and Fleur would never have their first meeting. " _Maybe they will meet when Fleur gets a job at Gringotts_?" Harry thought to himself as he popped away to send another anonymous message to the Aurors about what happened at Nott manor.

All told twelve Death Eaters, not including Greyback died in the manor that night. The ones that Harry knew about were Avery, Gibbon, Selwyn, Junson, Macnair, Mulciber, Rosier Sr. and Jr., and Nott Sr.. The ones that Harry didn't know about were named Samauel Brock, Dirdre Cantibury, John Frost, and Horientio McClaggon, the father to Cormac McClaggon. Harry was a little surprised at the last name, thinking that Cormac was an ass but not a pureblood fanatic. He breathed a sigh of relief at a few of the names. With Mcnair and Lucius gone, Buckbeak should be safe. Harry still planned to watch the lesson if Hagrid became the teacher next year anyway. Harry was disappointed that that Dolohov wasn't also among the dead. He owed the man for what he did to Hermione in the Department of Mysteries. He knew that several of the others had participated in the battle at the Department of Mysteries and the final battle at Hogwarts. The new Death Eaters were unknown to Harry and he wondered how many more were out there. He knew that he had destroyed most of Voldemort's inner circle, now all he needed to do was get into Azkaban to finish off the rest.

AN. Please review


	13. Chapter 13

What The Chapter Thirteen

The headline of the Daily Prophet the next day was about the ' **Massacre at Nott Manor!** '. It was all about the brutal slaughter of so many upstanding pureblood's by the monster, Fenrir Greyback. It called for stronger anti Werewolf laws and never once mentioned that everyone found dead had a Dark Mark tattooed on their arm. Harry felt a little bad if this made it harder for Remus but it was a successful operation that removed thirteen Death Eaters with one stroke. Once again his participation in the spectacle went unnoticed. In fact Harry hadn't sent a note to Amelia Bones since she had become acting Minister of Magic. He wanted to still be able to lead her in certain directions and he knew that it would be impossible if she thought that he was involved in any murders.

Harry knew that he would still need to commit more crimes to leave the future peaceful for his younger self, even if he didn't like it. Most of the inner circle of Death Eaters had been taken care of, only a few stragglers and the Death Eaters in Azkaban remained that he knew of. He still had the Cup, Locket, and Ring to acquire. He had collected the Diadem and the Horcrux in Harry's head had been destroyed. Harry wasn't sure if Nagini had become a Horcrux yet and he planned to destroy her soon to be safe. Right now he was focusing on the remaining Death Eaters.

" _Must master do's so much murders?"_ Dobby voice rang in Harry head.

" _Dobby! You've been quiet lately. I almost forgot that you were with me_." Harry answered back in his head.

" _Master Harry beens doin things Dobby not like. Dobby not want to says anythings to master Harry buts Dobby feels he musts_."

"What do you mean? What things?"

 _"_ _You'se know what things!"_ Dobby responded more angrily than Harry had ever heard him.

Harry was taken aback by this coming from Dobby. "You mean what I'm doing to the Death Eaters?"

" _Yes Harry Potter sir_."

Harry was a little bemused that even when Dobby was angry at him he was still polite. "You don't like how I'm handling them?"

" _No's I do's not Master Harry_."

"What is it that you don't like that I'm doing?"

" _You'se is killing_!"

This made Harry pause. He didn't like killing, but it was the best way that he could think of to make the future a better place. Wasn't it? He personally had killed Amycus and Greyback. He had replaced the hagover cure with poison that killed Crabbe and Goyle Sr., and he had set up twelve Death Eaters to be killed by a Werewolf. He also planned to kill several more Death Eaters and maybe Draco Malfoy and Basil Everheart. Looking back on all that he had done really put into perspective for him. He had been compartmentalizing all his actions and hadn't let himself feel the repercussions. Dobby's words had broken that barrier and everything hit him at once. Harry felt himself getting sick to the stomach and lurched forward and lost his lunch. Luckily he was in the Room of Requirement and the mess vanished immediately.

" _Dobby be sorry that Dobby make Master Harry feel bads. Dobby wishes that's he coulds punish himselfs_." The Elf said in Harry's head.

"I'll be fine Dobby, you just made me think of a few things that I was trying to avoid. And what did I say about punishing yourself, if you could?"

" _Not's too_."

"That's right.

" _Dobby bes sorry_."

"Look Dobby, i… I don't like what I've been having to do, but you've seen my memories of the future. You know what these people have done during the first war and what they're going to do in the next one."

" _Dobby knows, but Dobby stills nots like its_."

"I know. But I'm mostly finished so there won't be too many more."

" _Dobby understands. Dobby wills keep quiet, but Dobby doen't likes it_."

"I don't need you to keep quiet Dobby. I just need you to understand that there are certain unpleasant things that I need to do. Hopefully it won't be too much longer."

 _"_ _Yes Harry Potter sir_."

Harry's next stop of the day was to check inn on Sirius. It was nearing the holidays and Harry wanted to do something special for Sirius and Jr.. Dobby had appeared to Harry Jr. three more times over the weeks and given more information about Sirius and the Potters history which was confirmed to Jr. by Remus. Harry could tell that Jr. was starting to believe that Sirius was innocent. Remus had told Jr. all about how his father, Sirius and Peter had become Animagus's to help him during his transformations. It took Harry/Dobby telling Jr. that Remus was a werewolf but was a good person and then having Jr. confront Remus before Remus would have admitted his condition. Harry knew that Jr. would accept Remus's condition but that Remus would never admit it unless confronted. It was a cathartic meeting for Remus and Jr. and the pair seemed to become closer.

Harry popped into the Stoke-on-Trent property early in the morning to find Sirius running around the back yard in his Animagus form. Harry watched the man run for a few minutes, enjoying his freedom before calling out, "Hey Padfoot, come here boy!" Harry started whistling and patting his knees.

The dog made his way to the elf before transforming. "Dobby! How are you this fine morning?"

"Looks like someone woke up happy this morning."

"It's a beautiful day, and have you seen this morning's Daily Prophet?"

This took off the smile that formed on Harry's face. "Yeah."

Sirius saw the change in Harry attitude and asked, "What's up?"

"I… I might have had something to do with it."

"Really? Good job."

"What do you mean good job? Twelve people died. Thirteen if you include Greyback. Not to mention that I am also responsible for the deaths of Crabbe, Goyle, Rowle and Amycus Carrow!"

Sirius was stunned by the visceral response from the little elf in front of him and said, "Did you enjoy killing them?"

"Of course not!" shouted Harry.

"Did you have reasons for killing them?"

"Yes, they were monsters and had done and would do terrible things." Harry responded a little more subdued this time.

"So the world is a safer place without them in it?"

"…Yeah?" Harry said uncertainly.

"Then what's the problem?" replied Sirius like it was the most normal thing in the world.

This took Harry aback for a moment before he recovered enough to say, "How can you be so blaise about killing?"

"Killing is necessary in war."

But we're not in a war right now."

"Aren't we? It might seem like were in peace time, but the war never really ended. From what you have told me, the war will probably start heating up soon. You have just made the first strike."

"What do you mean the war will start heating up soon. How could you possibly know that since you've either been here or in Azkaban?" This had truly shocked Harry since he didn't think that he had said anything that could lead Sirius to this conclusion.

"You told me about what happened to my Godson in his first and second year at Hogwarts…" Harry was about to interrupt bur Sirius kept talking, " I also listened to the screams of the Death Eaters that were in the cells next to mine. They all said that their master would return and that they would be rewarded for their loyalty. Normally I would just think that it was the madness talking, but with what they said and what you told me about Harry's time at school, I figured that Voldemort was coming back. Now with what you just admitted to it seems like you believe that to be the case and are preemptively trying to remove his base supporters before he comes back."

Harry was stunned. He never figured that Sirius of all people would have been able to figure out what was happening. "What?"

"Oh come on. I've had nothing but time to think about what's going on in the world since I can't leave this house. I know I don't look it but I did get straight O's on all my N.E.W.T.s. I might have a… small problem with impulse control, but I'm no dummy. "

Harry didn't know what to say. He finally ended up with, "You're right. Voldemort is trying to come back. I know of several of his Death Eaters that escaped punishment and am trying to take them off the playing field before he returns. In fact I'm trying to make it so that he never returns. I… I don't know any other way to handle the Death Eaters other than killing them. Azkaban is a joke and he will just free them when he returns, if they don't bribe their way out of prison first."

"I understand. That was my biggest complaint during the first war. Dumbledore always insisted on us using stunners or tying them up when we fought. I would eventually see the same bastards during another raid some months later. It drove me mad."

"So… you don't have a problem with what I'm doing?" Harry asked reluctantly.

"Oh, god no."

Harry let out a relieved sigh and felt his shoulders relax. He didn't realize that they had tightened so much until he didn't feel the tension anymore. "If that's the case, there are still a few of his supporters that need to be handled. Maybe you can help me figure out how to deal with them?"

"Sounds like fun!" said a happy Sirius, and the two got to planning.

Harry popped back to Hogwarts later that night with a few rough plans on what to do with the Death Eaters. He and Sirius had decided to call it a night and try to figure out how to make the plans foolproof. When he entered the kitchens to have a late night meal, he was surprised to find two red headed fifth years already sitting at the small table and enjoying a whole platter of biscuits. Harry schooled his surprise and approached the twins. "Hello sirs. Whats cans Dobby be doings for youse?"

Both twins stopped eating and turned to the little elf. "Oh, so you're Dobby."

"We were told that…"

"you would be most agreeable…"

"in helping us with…"

"a little surprise…"

"…for our fellow students." They said, the words bouncing back and forth between the two of them, smiles on their faces the entire time.

Harry had to suppress a laugh. It had been too long since he had seen the twins perform their twin speak act. In fact the last time he had seen the twins one of them had just died. This sobering thought brought Harry back to the moment and he said, "Yes Sirs, Dobby cans help…" Harry snapped his fingers and the twins found themselves stuck to the kitchen ceiling. "As long as Dobby thinks its be funny. No one hurts students in Hogwarts. No one." The twins nodded their heads, too shocked to say anything and Harry let them down. "Good, now whats was youse plan?"

It took a moment for the twins to recover and Harry heard a muttering of crazy elf that Fred thought he said under his breath. When they regained their power of speech George said, "We wanted your help in putting something in the student's drinks at the last dinner before the Christmas break."

Harry figured that his little levitation trick had shocked the twins out of their usual habit of twin speak. ' _Who knew that all it would take is a little sticking charm'_ he thought to himself. He heard Dobby laugh in the back of his mind. "Whats it be and whats it do. Remember, no harms to students." He said while raising his arm.

The twins gulped and Fred answered. "It is harmless. All it will do is change everyone's hair green like a Christmas tree and cause a little hair to form a silver star on the top of their head that will glow."

"Is that all?" Harry said with a stern voice, still pointing his arm at the twins.

"Y yess." Stammered George nervously.

"Sounds fun!" said Harry cheerfully and dropped his arm and gave a big bright smile to the two terrified red heads.

The Twins relaxed and turned to each other. "Fred."

"Yes George."

"I believe that we were just pranked by a House Elf."

"I believe that you are correct, brother mine."

"I believe that this means war."

"Wrong, brother mine. It means partnership."

"Good idea."

"Of course. That's why I'm the smart brother."

"I thought that I was the smart brother?"

"And thoughts like that are why I'm the smart brother."

At this both twins pulled their wands and started to fire tickling hexed at each other. Harry let this go on for a minute before snapping his fingers and both twins were one again stuck to the ceiling, laughing from the hexes. "Listen youse twos, Youse need tos be payin more attention to youse actions." The twins looked confused until Harry pointed out a House Elf that was on the ground laughing uncontrollably. Apparently on of their hexes had struck the Elf and neither noticed. Harry went over to the Elf, snapped his fingers and the Elf stopped laughing. He made his way back to the twins and said, "Youse is funny but youse is irresponsible. Dobby help youse but Dobby stop youse if youse goes too far. Understands?" Harry hated talking like an Elf and he hated yelling at the twins but both were necessary.

The twins nodded and apologized, saying that they were sorry and apologized to the Elf that was struck when they were let down. The Elf didn't know how to handle being apologized to by wizards and popped away after about thirty seconds of the twins groveling, especially after the twins got down on their knees to apologize. Harry snorted and planned to make sure the Elf, Sally if he was not mistaken, was all right later on. "OK youse two, bring mes the potion two days befores the meal. If I'se find potion harmless, I'se do its."

Smiles broke out on the twins faces and they were about to say something when Harry grabbed both their hands and popped them in front of professor McGonagalls office. He then popped a little further down the hall and made sure that he created quite a noise as he popped out. He stood disillusioned at the end of the hall as he watched McGonagall emerge from her office with a stormy expression. He watched with a smile on is face as McGonagall berated the twins for making such a racket in the hallways and deducted five points from Gryffindor but did little else seeing as it wasn't past curfew and nothing seemed to be damaged.

Harry heard the twins talking to themselves as they made their way back to the Gryffindor dorm, "That was the second time the little bugger pranked us."

"I know, and we will get him back somehow, but did you realize the impressive thing?"

"What, that we didn't get detention?"

"No, even if that was impressive. It's that he was able to apparate us inside Hogwarts."

They both stopped at this realization. "Can you imagine all the new pranking possibilities this opens up? Not to mention the possible alibis?"

"Yes I can, my not quite better half."

They both started up again for their dorm and Harry had to face palm at the realization that he had inadvertently inspired the twins to new pranking heights. ' _Oh well, it could be fun_.' He thought as he made his way to look for Sally and make sure that she was all right.

When he finally returned to the Room of Requirement he called out for Sophia. He knew that he could talk to Sophia anywhere in the castle, except for the Chamber of secrets, but he felt most comfortable talking to her in this room. A moment after he called her name she responded, " _Yes my son_?"

Were you paying attention to what just happened in the kitchens?"

" _Of course, my son_."

Are you OK with me helping the twins out? It doesn't violate any of you rules does it?"

" _No my son, It doesn't bother me as long as no student is injured by their action_."

How about some of the things that I have done. It could be said that I caused harm to some of the students?"

 _"_ _What you have done is what I have considered justice. You have not harmed an innocent and acted in the pursuit of justice. Remember that I am not human and do not have a human sense of morality. I would stop you if I thought you were going too far_."

"What's too far?"

" _I am not sure. I would know it if I see it though_."

"That's… reassuring."

" _It should be_."

"Ok…well, I had an interesting discussion with Sirius black today."

" _That is good."_

Harry was a little disappointed in the apparent lack of interest that Sophia was showing but went on. "He was able to figure out that Voldemort was trying to come back."

" _He was always a bright student_."

"Yeah, well… I ended up telling him about what I did to the Death Eaters and he was OK with it. In fact he seemed proud of me."

" _That is good_."

"It surprised the hell out of me."

" _Why_?"

"Well most people think that killing is wrong."

" _Must I remind you that I am not human and that I don't have a human sense or morality. I believe that what you have done is justice_."

"Yeah, it just surprised me that Sirius would feel the same way." Harry was a little concerned that he may have offended Hogwarts. "No offence."

" _None taken_."

 **AN: Sorry for the delay in posting. I could say that life got in the way but that would be a lie. I just found that I didn't feel like writing. I had an idea on how I was planning on ending the story but found that it no longer worked with how the story was progressing. My future updates might not be as frequent as earlier, but I have not abandoned the story. PM me or leave comment in the reviews with any suggestions.**


	14. Chapter 14

What The Chapter Fourteen

The twins did show back up in the kitchens two days before the holiday leaving feast to drop off a cauldron of their potion that Harry and Hogwarts determined to be safe to consume. The prank went off without a hitch and Harry even dosed the teachers. Almost everyone had a good laugh after the shock had worn off. Dumbledore even offered to award the culprit one hundred points and no reprisals if they came forward (which no one did). Only some of the more snobby (Slytherins) and professor Snape had a problem with the prank. The look on Snapes' face guaranteed payback even if the Headmaster said there would be none. Flitwick seemed to have the most fun with the prank and even conjured some baubles that he added to his own hair to make the Christmas tree effect even more realistic. This had even garnered a smile to briefly adorn Professor McGonagall's face before she schooled her features. Once again Harry was disillusioned in a corner of the Great Hall holding a mirror with a laughing Sirius on the other end. The effect lasted for over two hours but everybody went to sleep with their normal hair back in place.

This was beginning of the Christmas holidays. Harry Jr. was staying at Hogwarts along with Ron and Hermione. The Twins and Percy were also staying at the school. Even though Jr still had his Nimbus 2000, Harry wanted to get him the Firebolt again, remembering how it was one of his favorite presents, especially since it was from his Godfather, but wanted to avoid the unpleasantness that happened last time with Hermione going behind his back to Professor McGonagall. To do this he had the gift first sent to Remus Lupin who would than give it to Jr. in front of his friends. Harry knew that Hermione would accept it if a teacher was the one to give it to Jr.. (forgetting about Quirell)

The gift's for Sirius was what was causing Harry some problems. He loved his Godfather but he didn't really know him that well. Not to mention that Sirius doesn't know that he is really Harry from the future. Deciding to go with gag gifts, he got Sirius a whole bunch of dog toys and a bright pink collar. On a more serious note, he also get him a photo album full of pictures of Harry Jr.. A case of chocolate frogs went to Ron and a book on Occlumancy to Hermione. He planned to anonymously deliver them at Christmas. He also got a little something for the twins and Lupin.

Over the Holidays Harry watched Jr have fun with the Weasley's, even Percy occasionally, and wished that he and Sirius could join in, but it wasn't time to reveal themselves yet. That didn't mean that he couldn't have a little fun anonymously though. Harry would often help Jr avoid the twins antics, most noticeably during the snowball fights that seemed to take place every day of the break. About fifty percent of the snowballs that would have normally hit Jr 'magically' hit Ron instead. If anybody noticed this, nobody said anything. On the day before Christmas the whole group even got Lupin involved with the fight. The Werewolf left that afternoon soaked but with a smile on his face that had been missing for years. The students involved were especially happy to have been able to throw snowballs at a teacher with no repercussions and there had even been a few cases of friendly fire. Everybody went to sleep that night with smiles on their faces.

Harry was a little torn about where to spend Christmas morning. He wanted to be there for Jr. but knew that he would have to remain hidden, and he wanted to be there with Sirius but there was little the two of them could do. Two days before Christmas Harry had decided what to do. He had been laying the ground work for Remus and Jr to believe that Sirius was innocent and they seemed to believe it, so Harry decided that it was time for the two Marauders to meet and if things went well, maybe Jr would be brought in. First thing Christmas morning, Harry popped Sirius into Lupin's office and the two gave the man the shock of his life. Let it be said that it is never a good idea to surprise a Werewolf first thing in the morning, especially two days before a full moon. Harry and Sirius both found out the hard way that Remus slept with his wand under his pillow.

After Sirius had been awoken from the stunner from Lupin, with the man's apologies, the two men embraced for the first time in over thirteen years. Harry watched the two men with a sad expression on his face. How he would have loved to tell both men who he really was and join the embrace, but it wasn't the time. Harry left the two men to catch up and went to check on Jr. in the Gryffindor dorms. It was still early in the morning and Harry and Ron were still asleep. Harry then set about delivering all the gifts that he brought. He also decided to have a little fun with the twins. Harry made it so that both of their noses would glow red whenever anyone said Christmas. This had shocked the twins the first time it happened but after figuring out what triggered the effect, they could constantly be heard saying Christmas throughout the day, laughing every time their noses glowed. Hermione even laughed at the twins, calling them Rudolph, which the Twins and Ron didn't understand but made Jr chuckle. Trying to explain the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to the purebloods took forever and Harry and Hermione didn't think that they really got it. The Twins did add antlers to their heads after hearing the story though.

After lunchtime Jr received a note to meet Lupin in his office, so Jr excused himself from the group that was on their way outside to start their daily snowball fight. When he entered the Defense against the Dark Arts teachers office he found the professor along with a familiar House Elf and a strange black dog. "Hello Professor, hello Dobby. You wanted to see me?"

"Merry Christmas Harry."

Merries Christmas's Harry Potter Sirs." Replied Harry/Dobby. Sirius looked at him curiously at the new speech pattern Harry/Dobby was using, accustomed to him speaking like a regular person, but said nothing.

Beconing Jr. Inside, Remus offered a cup of hot chocolate, "Harry, you know how we have been discussing Sirius Black?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe that he is innocent?"

"It… seems so." Replied Jr. He was looking at the black dog and one of the stories that Remus had told him about how his father and his friends had become Animagus's in their school days popped in to his head. His eyes narrowed on the dog and he said in almost a whisper, "Sirius?"

Sirius transformed into his human form and just stood there, looking hat Harry. He wanted to say something but found the words stuck in his throat. After a minute, Remus broke the tension that had formed. "Harry, allow me to introduce you to your Godfather, Sirius Black."

Sirius had finally found his voice and said "Hi pup." and gave a little smile. The smile faltered when Harry didn't respond and Sirius turned to Remus and said, "This was probably a bad idea."

Before Remus could respond, Harry finally spoke, "You were friends with my father?"

Sirius looked back to Harry and replied, "Yes."

"And you didn't betray them to Voldemort?"

"No. I could never. James was like a brother to me"

"And you're my Godfather?"

"Yes."

"And what does you being my Godfather mean?"

"Sirius got down on one knee to look Harry in the eye to respond. "It means that if anything happened to your parents that I would be responsible for looking after you, but I messed up and both you and I paid the price for my foolishness."

Harry looked at Remus who just nodded his head. He turned back to Sirius and asked. "Why did you do it?"

Sirius looked down, " I don't have a good reason. I have thought long and hard about those few days over the years. Being in Azkaban leaves you little else to do. Anyway, I realize that I let my anger cloud my judgement and wanted revenge more than my responsibilities. I shouldn't have chased after Wormtail, I should have taken care of you." A little tear fell from Sirius's eye. " I messed up. Can you forgive me?"

The room was quiet for a moment, than Harry spoke, "I… can forgive you. I have made a couple of foolish mistakes too."

Before Jr could say anything else, Sirius rushed forward and embraced Harry in a hug. This had startled Jr so much that he just froze. Sirius felt the tension in Jr's body and a few moments later released him and said, "Sorry."

"That's… That's alright. I just wasn't expecting that. It's OK."

Sirius re-hugged his Godson and Jr tentively returned it this time. Remus let out an overexajurated sigh and the two men broke apart and looked at the Werewolf. Remus wiped a fake tear from his eye and said, "That was soooooo sweet." Which caused everyone to crack up and break the tension.

"Shut it Mooney."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll make you?"

"I'd like to see an old dog like you make me."

This caused Sirius to launch himself at Lupin and the two men rolled around on the ground, trading insults back and forth. At first this had startled Jr and Harry/Dobby who was going to magic them apart, but after a moment he realized that they were just having fun with each other. It even reminded Harry of the Weasley twins. Jr was laughing hysterically a few moments later. Harry/Dobby let this go on for a few minutes before he separated the two still laughing men, "Youse no little whizzys any mores, Act like big whizzys."

Both men looked a little sheepish and looked down and said "Sorry." at the same time. It looked like they were little kids that were just caught stealing a cookie by their mothers, which looked really funny on the faces of two grown men to Harry. This made Jr laugh even more and Harry/Dobby joined in.

When everyone was calmed down, Harry/Dobby spoke, "Dinner bees in four hours, so youse should be spending times knowing each others." The Marauders and Jr sat down and started to regale Jr. of tales of their and his parent's time in school with Harry/Dobby listening attentively the whole time. Jr left Lupins office several hours later with a smile on his face and Harry popped Sirius back to the safe house.

Over the rest of the Christmas break Sirius and Lupin kept in touch by a communication mirror that Harry brought the day after Christmas. Jr even came back to Lupins office and used the mirror a few times. Life was good at the castle and Harry started to relax. This lasted until the students returned from the holidays.

As soon as the first students entered the castle, Sophia spoke in Harry's head, " _My son, I have confiscated two more love potions and three dark artifacts_."

Harry popped to the room of requirement and replied, "Am I going to be surprised by who brought the stuff in?"

" _One might surprise you, otherwise, no_ ,"

"OK, tell me."

" _Basil Everheart brought in another love potion_."

"That bastard!"

"" _The other one is the same Slytherin fifth year boy that brought in the same love potion that he brought in at the beginning of the school year."_

"The one keyed to Daphne Greengrass?"

" _Yes my son_."

Damn. I knew that there was something that I forgot to do during Christmas break. I'm going to have to do something about this. I gave Basil a chance and he didn't seem to learn his lesson. I also have to do something about the Slytherin, what was his name again?"

" _Marius Strong_."

"OK. I'm not sure what to do about him yet. He didn't seem to learn anything when he kissed Snape." Harry shuddered at the memory. "But I'm not sure what an appropriate punishment would be. Damn Dumbledore for not handling the problem."

" _Your Godfather was raised in the world of pureblood politics, and since Marius Strong and the Greengrass heiress are purebloods, he might have some idea how to handle the situation_."

"That's a good idea. I'll talk to him later. Now what should I do about Basil?"

" _There is a long forgotten curse that was used on rapist's during my founding times. It removed the offending person's genitalia and had no known counter_."

Harry winced, "Ouch."

" _I understand that it is quite painful_."

"That sounds a little like overkill. I don't think that he has raped anyone, even though he seems to be on the way. I don't think that I could do that to him. Maybe a few of the Death Eaters though…"

" _Then what will you do my son_?"

"Something… less drastic. I'll have to think about it. Ok, so what about the dark artifacts?"

 _"_ _Cormac McClaggon brought in another Hand of Glory."_

"Dumb bastard. Confiscate it again. What else _?"_

" _Yes my son. There is a cursed book that slowly poisons the reader over time while they read it_."

"That sounds bad. Do you think the person that brought it to Hogwarts knows what it does?"

" _I have no idea, my son_."

"Well, confiscate it and we'll see what we can do about the curse. If we can remove it, we will return the book. What else?"

" _The last Artifact is a pair of Garden Clippers that kill any plant life that they cut_."

"That seems odd. Who brought them in?"

" _Neville Longbottom_."

"WHAT!"

" _I knew that the last one would surprise you_."

"But… Neville?"

" _The artifact doesn't seem to have any effect on humans and I understand that the Longbottom Heir has an affinity for Herbology. It might ne that he doesn't know what the Clippers do. What do you want to do about it_?"

"I'm… not sure. Just watch what he does with them for now. Wow, Neville. Never would have seen that coming. Anything else?"

" _Nothing Serious_."

"OK, keep your eyes on things. I'm going to see Sirius." Harry said before he popped out of Hogwarts.

 **AN: Trying to get back in the groove of writing. Let me know what you guys think and if anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated**.


	15. Chapter 15

What The Chapter Fifteen

Sirius had a few good ideas on what to do with the Marius Strong and Daphne Greengrass situation. The one that Harry decided to go with was sending the love potion to Daphne's father along with a note explaining what it was, who brewed it and Dumbledore's lack of action in informing her that she was targeted. Harry included a memory of Dumbledore discovering the first attempt as proof. Sirius explained that as a pureblood, any attempt, even by another pureblood, to potion an heir was punishable by a stay in Azkaban or worse. There is no age restriction on this and Dumbledore's lack of action could also be considered a crime. Daphne's father had a seat on the Wizengamot so this would not be swept under the rug.

Harry was happy that the situation should take care of itself from then on, but that left him with what to do about Basil Everheart. Harry never came out and directly told Basil to stop brewing love potions but any sane person should have figured out that bad things always seemed to happen to him when he tried them. Harry should have realized that common sense and deductive reasoning was beyond most Witches and Wizards. Harry decided to be a little more straight forward on his punishment this time, the last chance that he was going to give.

That night, after Basil had fallen asleep, Harry transported him to the boundaries of the Hogwarts wards. Directly on the border he bound Basil to a chair using Basil's own wand and left him there. A few moments later his presence attracted almost all of the Dementors in the area. The repelling ward kept them from getting too close but their proximity still caused the temperature to drop significantly and for Basil to relive his worst memories. To make sure that the message would sink in, Harry attached a note to Basil that said 'Love Potions are a bad thing!'. The next morning Basil was found by Hagrid who had to bring him to the hospital wing still attached to the chair.

Basil spent a week in the Hospital wing and to this day hasn't brewed another potion. In fact he dropped out of Potions class and only very reluctantly will even take a potion himself. A good thing that happened because of the incident was that Minister Bones had the Dementors removed from Hogwarts. This probably wouldn't have happened because Dumbledore tried to keep the incident quiet but Harry's note had reached Daphne's father who had made a formal complaint to the DMLF which found its way to the Ministers deck. More scrutiny was being placed on Hogwarts and there was an Auror team there to investigate the claim when Basil was brought to the hospital wing. Harry made sure that the other potioning incidents were brought to light and several students were questioned before the Aurors left. The next week a squad of Aurors found themselves permanently attached to Hogwarts as security. Under normal circumstances Dumbledore was politically powerful enough to keep this from happening, but with the complaints of potioning gone public and the escaped mass murder Sirius Black still on the loose, the Minister was able to make it happen. The students were so happy that the Dementors went away that there were very few complaints about the Aurors. In fact the twins thought that it would be even more of a challenge and were looking forward to the Auror presence, especially now that they knew that Dobby could pop them anywhere in the castle.

The only down side to this that Harry could see was that Sirius wouldn't be able to visit with Remus and Jr while the Auror's were in the school. It would be too much of a risk until he was cleared. Luckily the Mirrors meant that everyone could still keep in touch.

The situation of Neville bringing in a cursed pair of garden clippers resolved itself when the boy in question brought the item to professor Sprout the next day. Harry/Dobby listened in to their conversation and found out that professor Sprout had asked Neville to bring them to her for a special project that she wanted to start but couldn't because she never had access to a pair of clippers like the one that Neville owned. She once mentioned it in class and Neville remembered that his family owned the required item and so he brought them in for her to use. This was a load off of Harrys mind and he let the situation progress without further monitoring.

The situation at Hogwarts was stabilizing with the House Elves now able to follow either Harry's or Sophia's instructions. With the Auror's presence and the Elves quick response time, almost all of the bullying and fighting in the castle had stopped. Small scuffles still broke out but they were stopped almost immediately. This left Harry more time to focus on what was going on outside the castle. With Sirius now not allowed to visit Remus or Harry jr. at Hogwarts anymore, he started to get restless. Harry figured that now would be a good time to tackle the Horcrux that was at Grimmauld Place.

"Hey Sirius." Shouted Harry just as Sirius was taking a drink of coffee one morning, causing him the jump, spilling the hot beverage all down his front.

"Damn it!" yelled Sirius while dobby was laughing his ass of in the doorway. "That wasn't funny you little blighter." grumbled Sirius while patting down his front.

After Harry recovered form laughing, he snapped his fingers and Sirius's clothes were clean once again. "Sorry… I didn't have a camera. Your face, priceless."

Sirius sat back down and refilled his cup, all the time shooting dirty looks at Harry. Harry ignored the looks and joined him at the table. "So… feel like taking a field trip?"

"I thought you said that it was too dangerous to go back to Hogwarts."

"It is. I was thinking of someplace else."

"Really? Like where?" Sirius responded while losing the glare directed toward Harry and replacing it with a curious expression.

"12 Grimmauld Place."

The glare returned to Sirius's face. "No."

"I know that you don't want to go…"

Sirius interrupted, "Won't go."

"WAN'T to go, but you need to." Continued Harry.

"I don't need to do anything." Replied Sirius, who finished his newly poured cup of coffee and stood up to leave the kitchen.

Harry followed him into the living room and said, "Even if it's to help Harry survive."

This stopped Sirius in his tracks. He rounded on Harry/Dobby and said in an incredulous voice, "What are you on about?"

"There are certain things that you need to know and I was waiting until you recovered enough before telling you. We should sit, it is a long story." Both sat down and Harry started his tale. "Let me start by asking, have you ever heard of a Horcrux?"

The puzzled look of Sirius's face told him the answer before Sirius answered, "Not that I can think of. What are they?"

"A piece of despicable magic that I don't even fully understand, but is the reason that Voldemort is still around." Harry was glad to notice that Sirius didn't flinch like many other witches and wizards at the mention of Voldemort's name and continued, "A Horcrux is an object that stores a part of a persons soul and can keep them from death even if their body dies."

"And Voldemort made a Horcrux? Is that why you think he's still alive? How do you now and how do you make a Horcrux?"

"I know because Harry faced the Shade of Voldemort in first year when it possessed a professor and faced a Horcrux in his second year when it opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"WHAT!" shouted Sirius and he jumped up and grabbed Harry/ Dobby. "What do you mean that Harry has faced Voldemort…Two times since he started Hogwarts?! Why haven't I heard of this before? Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't the Hogwarts wards stop it? Why didn't Dumbledore stop it?"

Harry stopped Sirius's rant before it went on too much longer "I will tell you what I know when you release me."

Sirius let Harry /Dobby go and mumbled a "Sorry." Even though Harry could tell the man was still distracted.

When Sirius sat back down, he continued, "During Harry's first year the Defense against the Dark Arts professor was being possessed by the shade of Voldemort. He was at the castle because Dumbledore had hidden the Philosophers Stone there."

"He What? The Philosophers Stone, in a school full of children? How could he?"  
"It's actually worse than you think, He protected it behind traps that a first year could get through, which they did and that led to the confrontation between Harry and the possessed teacher. He even mentioned the corridor that the stone was in at the beginning of the year with only the warning that a 'Terrible and painful death awaited those that went there'"

"Seriously? That would make almost any kid want to see what all the fuss was about!"

"I believe that he meant it as a trap for Voldemort, but that would also mean that he knew that Voldemort was in the castle."

That…That bastard! All those kids, and Harry…Bastard."

"I agree. Now Harry came out on top but he was injured, as was his friend Ron Weasley, but nothing serious. Quirrel, that was the teachers name , wasn't so lucky and he died."

"I bet that Dumbledore never even contacted the DMLE."

"You would have won that bet. However, that was the first time that Harry faced Voldemort. The second time was in second year. This is where the Horcrux comes in."

Sirius refocused, "You never really explained what a Horcrux is."

"Well from what I understand a witch or wizard creates a Horcrux by splitting their soul by committing an act of murder. A murder of an innocent in cold blood. If they perform a ritual beforehand so the split piece of soul can be stored in a container instead of rejoining the original damaged soul. With the piece of soul protected outside the body, if the person is killed, their soul will be prevented from passing on to 'the next great adventure' and they can eventually regain a body."

Sirius was quiet as he let that sink in. "And Voldemort created a Horcrux and that's why he was able to possess, Quirell?"

"Actually he created more that one."

"More that one! How…how many?"

"I believe six. But one has already been destroyed, which brings me back to Harry's second year." Harry could tell that Sirius wanted to ask more questions but continued before he could. "Lucius Malfoy was tasked to keep one of Voldemort's Horcrux's safe, even if I believe that he didn't know what it really was. He instead slipped into Ginny Weaslys school thing when they ran into each other in Diagon Alley."

Ginny Weasly?"

"She is the Weaslys youngest child and their only daughter."

"I remember the Weaslys from the Order of the Pheonix. It's a shame what happened to Molly's brothers."

"Yeah… well Lucius knew that it was a dark artifact and was planning on using it to get Arthur in trouble so his proposed muggle protection act would be disgraced."

"That seems a bit convoluted."

"Yeah, but it probably would have worked. He probably was expecting it to be detected when Ginny went to Hogwarts, but the wards have been weakened over the decades since an old headmaster had them removed form himself and placed them to an object in the headmasters office."

"Really, the headmaster isn't connected to the wards. That seems… wrong. But it would explain how we got away with so much then we were at Hogwarts."

"Probably. Plus I don't know why Lucius thought that Dumbledore would do anything even if he discovered the Dark item. He lets everybody off with only a stern warning. Anyway, the item was a Diary of Tom Riddle that slowly started to possess Ginny as she wrote in it. "

"Tom Riddle?"

"Voldemort's real name." Harry continued before Sirius could as a follow up question. "The possessed Ginny ended up opening up the Chamber of Secrets just like Voldemort had done fifty years previously."

"The chamber was opened before?"

Yeah, Voldemort opened it while he was at school and a student was killed. When they threatened to close the school, he pinned the crime on Hagrid. That's why Hagrid was kicked out of school and can't use a wand."

"I never knew that. I didn't even know the chamber was opened before, let alone that it wasn't a myth."

"The whole thing was covered up, like usual. Well, Ginny opened the chamber and released Slytherin's monster, a Basilisk."

"A Basilisk! At Hogwarts?" Sirius was back on his feet.

"Yes, now can I continue?" when Sirius sat back down, Harry kept on. "Yes, after a while people started to get petrified and even Filches cat and a ghost were affected. It was discovered that Harry was a Parsselmouth during the year and he became the number one suspect until his friend Hermione Granger was petrified."

"Harry's a Parsselmouth?"

"Yes he is. That's not going to be a problem is it?"

Said Harry, giving Sirius a glare.

"N,no. I just wasn't expecting that."

"Good. Any way the school turned against him and the teachers did nothing to stop it. Around the end of the year, Ginny was taken to the chamber and Harry and Ron, Ginny's brother, went to rescue her. Harry was able to kill the Basilisk and destroy the Horcrux with Basilisk venom."

Wow. Why didn't Harry tell me any of this?"

"You'd have to ask him, but he's only known you since Christmas. Give him time to become more comfortable."

"I guess."

"Now I don't know if Dumbledore knew what Slytherin's monster was or not, but he didn't really do anything, and he definitely didn't help Harry out that year, even if one announcement during one of the meals stating that Harry wasn't a suspect would probably saved Harry a lot of hassle."

"I now understand more why you don't want to go to Dumbledore for help. OK, so now what?"

"Now we need to go to Grimmauld Place."

"Why, I still don't understand."

"Because there is another Horcrux there."

"What!? Wait, that doesn't really surprise me. My family supported Voldemort, but I didn't think he would leave on of his Horcrux's with them, Only Reg was a marked follower, If you don't count Bellatrix."

"Bellatrix has one too, but it is in her vault a Gringotts. "

How do you know that? In fact how do you know any of this? Is your master a Death Eater?" Sirius stood up and pulled his wand, "Are you trying to bring your master back!"  
Harry snapped his fingers and Sirius's wand flew into his hand. " I am not working for Voldemort or any of his Death Eaters. I want Voldemort gone even more than you do. Now sit and I'll tell you what I can." Sirius sat but Harry wasn't happy with the mistrusting look on his face. "Now, I already have one of Voldemort's Horcrux's in my possession, and know a way to destroy the Horcrux without destroying the item."

Sirius interrupted before Harry could go on. "Then why don't you do that, and why not just destroy it?"

Because the Horcrux is in Ravenclaws Diadem."

Ravenclaws…Diadem, But that's been lost since the time of the founders." Said an incredulous Sirius.

"Not anymore. Do you want to be the one to destroy it?"

" . It's a priceless treasure."

"I know. And I know of a way to get rid of the Horcrux but I can't do it myself. I need a Wizard to do it."

"And that's why I'm here." Said Sirius, the untrusting expression back on his face.

"Partially. I still would have helped you because I knew that you were innocent and because I know that Harry would want to get to know his Godfather, but you can also help me get to the Horcrux and destroy it, which will also help out you Godson as well. It is positive on many levels."

Sirius thought about that for a few moments. "I can see that. Ok what do I need to do?"

Harry was happy that that potential problem seemed to solve itself. He knew that Sirius still didn't completely rust him but they could work together on this. You will need to learn the ritual to cleanse the Diadem and the other objects of the Horcrux and go with me to Grimmauld place to retrieve one of them."

"What's the ritual?"

"I will bring you all the information on it that I have. You will need to practice it because the slightest mistake can cause be disastrous."

Sirius seemed to pale a little, "OK, what else?"

"I will need you help in figuring out how to get the Horcrux that is in your cousins Bellatrix's vault."

"So the easy stuff. "Sirius said sarcastically.

"Were you a Marauder or weren't you?"

Sirius puffed out his chest, "Once a Marauder, always a Marauder!"

"That's more like it. Now Grimmauld place is being watched so we have to find a way to get in and out without being observed."

"My family were paranoid bastards and didn't trust the Ministry. They secretly bought the properties on both sides of their house and never registered it with the Ministry. There are secret entrances in each of the properties that we can use to get in the house. The Ministry should only be watching the one house. I can go in as Padfoot and use one of those. After I take control of the wards I'll call for you. Oh wait, I was thrown out of the family. The wards won't recognize me."

"Actually you were never thrown out of the family."

"But my mother…"

"Wasn't the head of the family. You were never officially disowned."

"How do know this? How do you know any of it?"

"I can't tell you."

The suspicious look was back on Sirius's face. "Can't or won't?"

"A little bit of both. Look I am doing all that I can do to help Harry. Just know that everything I do is to help him. OK?"

"OK, for now."


	16. Chapter 16

What The Chapter Sixteen

"Speech"

 _'_ _Thoughts'_

As expected, there was an undercover Auror across the street watching 12 Grimmauld place. He did a better job of blending in with the muggle surroundings than most witches and wizards but he was still easy to spot as his clothes didn't match the rundown neighborhood. He was dressed in a muggle suit of good quality and stuck out like a sore thumb with the abandoned cars and overflowing rubbish bins. Sirius as Padfoot had no trouble sneaking into the abandoned property at 13 Grimmauld place and making his way to the secret entrance, his Animagus form, still unknown to the Ministry.

Harry wasn't sure how Kreacher would respond to him so told Sirius to order Kreacher to be quiet and wait for him in the kitchen when he first entered the property. Sirius hated the elf so had no problem following that suggestion. Five minutes after Sirius entered the property, Harry/Dobby heard his name being called and popped into the entrance hall to the delightful sounds of Sirius's mothers' portrait.

"...lthy disgrace of my loins! Get out you waste of the noble blood of Black! Get out, get out, GET OUT! Kreacher! Throw this blood traitor scum out now! Kreacher! Kreacher!"

Harry/Dobby snapped his fingers and the noise from the portrait was silenced. "My lovely mother." Said Sirius, pointing to the silenced portrait. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"No problem." Replied Harry, looking around the entrance hall. The corridor was even more rundown and filthy than he remembered it from the summer before his fifth year. ' _The Weasly's must have cleaned it up a little before I got here last time_.' Thought Harry.

Sirius noticed Dobby looking around and said, "This place is more rundown than the Shrieking Shack. I knew it would be bad but I didn't think that pathetic Elf would let it deteriorate this much." Sirius looked at Dobby , "No offence."

"None taken. This place is a dump." Harry could feel his House Elf instincts screaming at him to clean the mess and wondered how Kreacher was able to stand it. ' _I guess the locket affected him more than I thought.'_ Snapping his fingers, the first layer of grime and dust vanished, leaving the entrance hall in a slightly better state of disrepair. "I can fix much of this later, but we should get what we came for and go." Harry promised himself that he would send a contingent of Hogwarts Elves to clean up the place when he and Sirius left. They would love the challenge.

"Don't worry about the place. I don't think that I'll ever come back here after we get what we came for."

Harry thought ' _Hopefully we will be able to clear you so you can go wherever you like, but I'll clean this place up anyway just to be safe_.' Following Sirius up the stairs, Harry said, "I believe it is in a cabinet in the library."

Sirius stopped in the middle of the stairs and turned around to look at Dobby. "How do you know where it's located? In fact, how do you know any of this?"

Harry cursed himself for the slipup. How would he explain it to the now incredulous Sirius. "I…I, can…Sense it?" Sirius kept staring at him, not satisfied with the answer given. Harry tried to elaborate. "When I first popped into the property I could just tell where the locket was." Harry said with more confidence.

Sirius was still looked skeptical and said, "That still doesn't explain how you knew it was here in the first place."

Harry let out a sigh, "You're right, and I'll tell you what I can, but first let's get the damn thing and then get out of here."

"Fine. But don't think I will forget about this." Replied Sirius before turning around and continuing up the steps.

Harry followed and stopped when he rounded a corner and came face to many faces of decapitated House Elf heads that were hanging on the wall. Dobby let out a little scream in Harry's head. ' _Calm down Dobby._ '

' _But, but, but, all them's Elf heads! Who would do's such a things?_ ' thought Dobby.

' _Not everyone was a good master. You should know, being the Malfoy's old Elf_.'

" _Can's Master Harry Potter get rid's of its please_?'

" _I'll do it when we leave_.'

' _Thanks youse_.'

Sirius had stopped again when he noticed that Harry/Dobby was no longer following him. Looking to where Dobby was staring, he saw all the House Elf heads on the wall and looked down. "Yeah, about that…My family was…sorry."

Shaking his head, Harry started to walk again. "I understand. Can I get rid of it when we leave?" Harry would even if Sirius would say no, He didn't want any of the other Elves that he was planning to send over to have to see that.

"Feel free." Said, and started walking again.

Harry decided to wait until after they claimed the locket incase removing the heads tripped some sort of trap. He wouldn't put it passed the Blacks to do something like that. When they entered the library, Harry could feel the dark energy radiating of the cabinet in the far corner. On the way over, he and Sirius jumped when the roll top desk shook as they passed it.

"A Boggat." Stated Harry. "I think we should give it some space." Sirius nodded and they both let it be and continued to the cabinet. When they arrived, Sirius drew his wand and Harry went to stop him. "NO Sirius. You shouldn't use magic in case the Ministry can trace it."

Sirius let out a little chuckle. "The Ministry can't tell a damn thing that happens in this house. When I first got here I connected with the wards, I guess they recognized me as the new Head of House. Looks like you were right about me not being disowned. Anyway, the wards have weakened over the years, but they are still strong enough to keep whatever happens in this house from being detected by any outside party."

"Really?" ' _This would have been nice to know the summer I spent here. Molly probably still wouldn't have of allowed us to use magic anyway, even if it would have made cleaning easier_.' Reminisced Harry.

My family," practically spat Sirius, "wouldn't want anyone to interfere with what they do. I'm sure you can imagine a lot of what they did would have been frowned upon by the Ministry, if not downright deserving a one way ticket to Azkaban."

"I can imagine." Replied Harry, looking around the library and noticing many dark items. "Well, before you do anything, let me set up the container that we'll store the locket in." Sirius nodded and Harry summoned a lead case. "OK ready."

Sirius used his wand to open the cabinet and float the locket to the case. Once it was inside the magic resistant case Harry shut the lid. Harry immediately felt the dark presence of the locket dissipate. This also coincided with a popping sound and Kreacher was there shouting, "NO, no, no, no, no. What has mistress's dirty disgrace of a spawn done!? Where's mmaster Regulas's locket. Kreacher must find it, Kreacher must! Kreacher must do as master Regulas ordered. Kreacher must, Kreacher must!."

Sirius rounded on the excitable Elf. "What are you on about? What are you doing here Kreacher? I ordered you to stay in the kitchen while I was here."

Kreacher was looking about frantically mumbling"Master Regulas's locket, Naster Regulas's locket." Until he say Harry/Dobby standing beside a lead case. Kreacher froze and started to say, "How you be Elf and mast…"

Harry cut him off and said, "Shut up Kreacher!" To everyone's surprise, Kreacher shut up. "Now. I know that master Regulas ordered you to destroy the locket that was in that cabinet." Harry said while pointing to the cabinet on his right. He also noticed Sirius staring at him. He knew that he would have to give a explanation soon. "We know that the locket belonged to Voldemort and that you have not been able to follow Regulas's last order. We know how to do this but we need to take the locket somewhere special to do this." Harry could see that Kreacher was shocked that the weird Elf/Master in front of him knew so many secret things. Harry continued. "You have been a loyal elf and I promise you that when the locket has been cleansed that master Sirius will call you and let you see it for yourself. Won't you Sirius." The last said while giving Sirius a glare. Harry knew what Sirius thought of the Elf and didn't want to have his hatred clouding the present situation.

Sirius saw the glare that Dobby was giving him and mumbled out, "Um, Sure."

"Good. Now Kreacher, I want you to remove all theitems in this house that are cursed an store them in a trunk in the attic. I will have some…help coming soon to clean this place up and return it to a state that befits the Noble House of Black." Harry knew that the Hogwarts Elves could handle any of the cursed items in the house but figured that Kreacher as a Black Elf would have less of a chance of anything going would later take all the items back to Hogwarts so he could get Sophia's help in removing the curses. He knew that Sirius wouldn't care what happened to the items. "Do you understand?" Kreacher Nodded, still under orders not to speak, which seemed to be holding better than Sirius's order. "Good. Get to work." And Kreacher popped away. Harry notices that there weren't as many artifacts in the library anymore.

Sirius was flabbergasted. "He actually did what you said! He barely did what I told him to do. How?"

"It's an Elf thing." Shrugged Harry. He didn't know if it really was an Elf thing or if it was because he was both an Elf and master or if it was because he was once Head of the black family when Sirius died. With Sirius being alive, he had no idea what caused Kreacher to listen to him but he was glad that it worked. "We should go."

Sirius nodded and started to walk out. Over his shoulder he said. "We have a lot to talk about." Harry sighed and followed.

Since Sirius had reestablished control of the wards at 12 Grimmauld place, Harry was able to pop him directly to the safe house at Stoke-on-Trent from the entrance hall. On the way out Harry had removed and shrunken the Elf heads that were on the wall and planned to give them a proper burial at Hogwarts. Dobby liked this plan and returned to being quiet. After promising that he would explain everything (that he could) to Sirius after he secured the Horcrux, Harry popped back to the seventh floor of Hogwarts, right outside the Room of Requirement. Upon arrival he called out to the castle, "Sophia! I'm back."

" _I know this my son_."

"Right. Well, I got the locket, so that's another one down. That leaves the cup, the ring, and the snake just to be sure."

"Well done my son. Did you have any problems?"

"No. For some reason Kreacher, that's the Black House Elf, followed my orders. I'm not quite sure why though. I started him on cleaning the place up. It was in appalling condition. It took almost all my willpower not to clean the whole place myself. In fact I want to send a group of Elves to clean up the place."

Right as he finished that comment, the Hogwarts top Elf popped in front of him."You'se have a place thats needs cleanin'?"

"Yes Trappy, I do. It's at 12 Grimmauld place. There's an Elf there that has let the place go." Trappy had a sour look on his face and Harry continued. "He was being affected by a dark artifact and it wasn't entirely his fault. " Harry could tell that this excuse didn't satisfy Trappy and continued. I had him handle all the dark items so you guys don't have to. If you could get a group of volunteers and try to get the place back to tip top shape I would appreciate it."

"Trappy be's happy to. Trappy goes now." And the Elf popped away.

Shaking his head at the excited look the Elf gave before popping away, Harry passed three times in front of the Room of Requirement asking for the secure room that stored the other Horcrux. Leaving the lead box in the room, he stepped back out and asked, "Is there anything going on in the castle that I should know about?"

" _There have been a few minor cases of spell fire but they have been handled by either the Elves or the Auror's that patrol my halls_."

How about Draco or any of the other people I had you keep an eye on?"

"Draco has been keeping to himself more now that the Auror's are about. He has not met with Hironimus Maxley since the Auror's have been stationed here. All the others that you are having me watch have been quiet."

"That's good I guess. Anything else? What's Harry Jr. been up to?"

"He spends his time either in the common room, the library, on the Quidditch pitch, or talking with Professor Lupin in his quarters."

Well that's good. It's more than I did in my third year. Still a little disappointing that he's not expanded his group of friends. I know he's not spending as much time with Ron as I did, but I was hoping for more. That reminds me, I need to do something about Neville. It would be nice if I could raise his confidence a bit without having to wait until fifth year. Any Suggestions?"

" _What did it in your fifth year that raised his confidence?"_

"The escape of Bellatrix Lestrange and the Lestrange brothers seemed to make him focus more. I was also able to help him out in the D.A."

" _What is the D.A.?"_

This reminded Harry that he still had to do something about getting the cup Horcrux from Bellatrix's vault. "Huh. Oh, the D.A. was a defense group called Dumbledore's Army that Hermione made me teach to train fellow students in defense since the Ministry's toad, Umbridge refused to teach us anything. I actually didn't care much for the name and would've been happier calling it the Defense Association like what was recommended earlier. Dumbledore's Army stuck and so that's what I went with. Anyway, Neville put a lot of effort into training and he really improved."

" _Then why not start up the D.A. again_?"

"We actually have a good teacher in Remus and don't really need it. The Ministry isn't stopping us from learning this time and I don't see the need."

" _It can be an official club this time and you can get Professor Lupin to sponsor it_."

"That's actually not a bad idea. I can use Sirius's escape as an excuse to have him form it. There shouldn't be any problems from the Ministry and I can't see Dumbledore having any excuse to not let it be formed. I'll encourage Remus to start it and make sure he invites Jr. and Neville to join. Thanks Sophia."

" _You are welcome my son_."

Sighing, Harry said. "I guess there's nothing that I need to do in the castle."

" _Nothing that requires your immediate attention_."

"I guess I don't have an excuse to put off my explanation to Sirius any longer."

" _What explanation_?"

"I, might've let slip that I knew more about the locket and where it was then I should have."

" _That was unwise_."

"I know, but I had to get him agree to go to Grimmauld place."

" _Then you must face the consequences of your actions_. "

"I know. I will be back soon." replied Harry, and he popped out. Before returning to Sirius, he buried the House Elf heads by the Black Lake at a clearing that was used to bury all of the Hogwarts Elves that have passed on. Harry never knew this place existed when he was a student and took a few moments to pay his respects. Several other Elves joined him and he even heard Dobby say a few words in his head as he buried the Elves. Not really being able to put it off any longer if he wants Sirius to still help him, Harry popped off to Stoke-on-Trent.


	17. Chapter 17

What The Chapter Seventeen

Harry/Dobby popped into the safe house in Stoke-on-Trent to find Sirius pacing and mumbling under his breath "Damn Elf, keeping me waiting here like some damn fool. Who does he think that he is? When I get my hands on him I'm going to get answers, even if I have to wring his scrawny neck."

Harry interrupted Sirius's pacing by clearing his throat. Having apparently not heard Harry's arriving pop over his mumbling, the throat clearing caused Sirius to jump while quickly drawing his wand. After Sirius recognized Dobby he lowered it and said, "About time you got here! What took so long?"

Not liking the confrontational attitude Sirius was already showing, Harry replied a little snappishly, "I had to make sure the locket was secure. We don't want to have to find it again if somebody stumbled on it, would we."

Sirius scowled down at Dobby. "You are going to tell me how you know so much about…everything! How did you know that the locket was at Grimmauld? And how did you make Kreacher do what you told him to do? I don't understand any of this."

"Calm down and I'll tell you. You might want to sit, it could take a while"

Sirius reluctantly sat and said, "Go on."

Snapping his fingers, a glass of Firewhisky appeared on the table in front of Sirius. Harry started to explain. "This all started at the end of the last school year." Harry looked up at Sirius, who nodded and he went on. "I was following Lucius Malfoy into Hogwarts when something happened."

"Sirius interrupted, "Why were you following Malfoy?"

Harry knew that the next words would cause a problem, but knew that he had to get them out. "I was the Malfoy family Elf."

Harry was right and Sirius jumped up and shouted. "I knew it! You do work for the Death Eaters!"

Before Sirius could go on, Harry snapped his fingers and Sirius found himself silenced and in a bodybind back on the couch, glaring at Dobby. Harry jumped up and shouted right back in Sirius's face, "I don't work for the Death Eaters!" This outburst shocked Sirius and Harry continued. "I used to be bonded to the Malfoy family (a partial truth as Dobby was bonded to the Malfoys) but Harry Potter tricked Lucius Malfoy into releasing me."

Harry could see the emotion of pride in what his Godson had done fighting with the anger at Dobby for binding him. After a few moments for Sirius to calm down, Harry released the bodybind and the silencing charm. He first words out of Sirius's mouth were, "Don't do that again."

"If you listen to what I say, I won't have to." Harry felt that this conversation was getting off to a bad start, "Now, as I was saying, Harry tricked Lucius into giving me a sock."

The smile overcame the anger on Sirius's face at this. "That's my boy. A born Marauder."

Harry knew his next words would cause another scene and prepared. "Lucius got angry and shot a killing curse at Harry."

"WHAT!" shouted Sirius as he once again jumped up. Harry let him rant for a few moments this time since his rage wasn't directed at him. He didn't want Sirius's rage pointed at him as he knew it would if he silenced or bound him again. "I have to get to Harry." Said Sirius as he turned to leave, going to find his Godson no matter the consequences.

"Harry is fine."

But, but…"

Harry cut him off. "You have seen him with your own eyes since it happened."

It took a few moments before Sirius calmed enough and sat back down. In his mind Sirius knew that Harry was OK, but he promised himself that he would talk to him the first chance he got. First, he wanted to get the rest of the story out of Dobby. "You're… right. I still want to talk to him."

"I understand. I'll pop him a mirror so you can talk to him tonight."

"Good. ."

" The killing curse hit Harry and something happened. (Technically something happened and then the killing curse hit Harry and then something else happened, but Harry would leave that out) Harry saw Sirius start to freak out again and continued, "Like what happened with Voldemort, the spell rebounded and hit Malfoy, killing him."

Silence filled the room as Harry let the information sink into Sirius's thoughts. Sirius finally noticed the glass of Firewhisky on the table and downed it in one go. Coughing up a flame, Sirius recovered and said, "Only Harry." It was a few more moments before Sirius encouraged Dobby to go on. "What happened then?"

There was an explosion and I woke up in the kitchens with the other House Elves. I was different (Understatement of the century) and for some reason I was bonded to the castle."

"I guess that makes sense. I know that House Elves need a bond to survive."

Harry debated with himself on if he should tell Sirius this next part. He decided that the risk was minimal and I might make explaining how he knew so much easier without having to explain that he was really Harry sent back from the future and was now sharing Dobby's body. "It… It wasn't a normal bond."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't bonded to the castle… it's more like the castle was bonded to me."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"I actually have control of the Hogwarts wards."

It was silent for a few beats and then Sirius broke out laughing. This went on for several minutes and even caused a smile to break out on Harry's face. "You, you, have control of the Hogwarts wards?"

Harry/Dobby nodded.

"Oh Merlin. That must have pissed Dumbledore off."

"He actually doesn't know."

This caused another round of laughter from Sirius. After he calmed down again, he asked "How can he not know? "

"Remember that I told you that a previous Headmaster had the ward controls placed on an object in the head office."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Still…"

"Well Dumbledore doesn't know and I want to keep it that way. I'm making small changes at the castle and most of the bulling and fighting has been stopped."

"That's good. How about pranking?"

"Still allowed, unless it goes to far."

"Good. It would be a shame to stop all the fun."

Sirius seemed to have accepted this and Harry hadn't even had to mention Sophia. Harry didn't know if Sirius would be able to accept that the Castle had sentience. Witches and wizards were remarkably close minded about things even though they lived in a world of magic. Harry continued. "Well, I have control of the wards and I got access to a lot of information."

"So that's how you know about the Horcrux's."

"It is." A small lie but it would make everything go easier. "There was actually a Horcrux there."

"Ravenclaws Diadem."

"Right. I also learned how to cleanse the Horcrux but it requires a Wizards magic."

"I'll get right on that. But that doesn't explain how you knew that a Horcrux was at Grimmauld Place or that there is one in dear cousins Bella's vault. It also doesn't explain how you knew about Kreacher and Regulas."

Harry took this time to refill Sirius's glass with Fiewhisky to give him a moment to think up an asnwer. "When the explosion happened from the killing curse, I just had all the information in my head (technically true)." Harry debated on saying this next bit. "There was a…a Horcrux in Harry's scar."

As expected Sirius was back on his feet, "What!"

"The killing curse destroyed it and Harry is fine. In fact he is doing much better now that his own magic isn't fighting the Horcrux."

Sirius downed the Firewhisky in one go again and sat down. "Poor Harry. Is that how you know about the other Horcrux's?"

Harry shrugged, "Probably."

Silence reigned again. It was broken when Sirius asked, "And Regulas?"

"I knew the story. I knew what Kreacher had done. Don't ask how."Harry prayed that Sirius wouldn't ask.

"Are you…did the Horcrux possess you?"

"No." Harry wasn't expecting that response.

"How do you know? How else would you know so much?"

Harry could see Sirius's hand creeping toward his wand. "Well for one, I would have turned to dust like Quirell when Harry touched me." Sirius didn't look convinced so Harry continued. "You felt what the Horcrux felt like when we retrieved it?"

"Yeah?"

And you've faced Voldemort during the last war?"

"I fought in a few battles that he was at but I never fought him directly."

But you were near him?"

"Yes."

"And how did his magic feel?"

Sirius gave it a good thought. "Dark. I felt similar growing up."

"And how does my magic feel?"

Sirius thought about that for a moment. I don't really know. Sort of like…tingly."

Harry didn't know that his magic felt tingly. "But not Dark?"

"No, not Dark."

"Then I don't know what else to tell you. I can give you a vow that I'm not possessed by Voldemort. Other than that, I don't know what to say."

"You would give a vow?"

"I would."

"OK, go on then."

Harry raised his hand and made the vow." I Dobby the House Elf so swear that I am not possessed by the spirit of Tom Marvolo Riddle otherwise known as Voldemort, on pain of loss of my magic. So I swear, so mote it be." There was a flash of light and then Harry snapped his fingers and Sirius's glass of Firewhisky refilled. Harry was glad it worked because he was afraid that the fact that he was Harry and Dobby would mean that the vow could go wrong.

This seemed to satisfy Sirius and he settled back into the couch. "Good. I was worried. I was afraid that if you were Voldemort that you were using me to get back in power."

"I want Voldemort destroyed as much as anyone."

Sirius nodded. "OK, so now what?"

'Now we have to get to the other Horcrux's.'

After a brief planning session where they laid out some of the problems with getting the Horcrux's, Harry popped a mirror over to Harry Jr so Sirius could see him with his own eyes. Harry Jr wasn't too happy being woken up by a House Elf, remembering the time that the same House Elf woke him up when he was in the Hospital wing the previous year. At least this time he was gently shaken awake instead of having a cool cloth wiping his face. After the grumbles and the complaints to Sirius through the mirror for waking him, he had a nice conversation and went back to sleep with a smile on his face. Sirius never brought up Malfoys killing curse, somethings had to be done face to face, and after seeing that Harry was fine, was able to go to bed. Sleep took a lot longer to come for him though with so much new information floating around in his head. His last thought of the night was of Dumbledore's face when he realized that he didn't have control of the Hogwarts wards anymore.

The next day Harry brought Sirius the information on the ritual to remove Horcrux's so that he could prepare. He didn't want to stay so he popped back to the castle right after dropping it off. Wanting to forget about Horcrux's for a while and with Hogwarts running smoothly, Harry refocused on the remaining Death Eaters. With the Lestrange's, Dolohov and Rookwood locked up in Azkaban, along with other Death Eaters that he knew nothing about, Harry decided to focus his attention on Yaxley. He remembered all the trouble the Death Eater had caused the last time around.

It was easy to find the man as he was a department head in the Ministry. It was still a little surprising that House Elves had so much freedom of movement in the Ministry building. Harry found Yaxley at his desk in the Floo Department. _'This explains why so many people weren't able to floo for help when the Death Eaters attacked_.' thought Harry. Harry tagged Yaxley with a House Elf tracking charm and followed the man home later that day. The man had a House Elf so Harry figured that he would have to do something when the man wasn't at home. Harry still wasn't sure if Kreacher followed his orders because he was once head of the Black family, because he was another Elf, or because he was a combination of Elf and master, and he didn't want to take the risk. Maybe after Yaxley was gone he would pop into the house and see what happened, but not now.

Harry decided that Yaxley would have to die after following him later that night and seeing the man use a Cruciatus on a muggle prostitute before obliviating her. Harry was about to stop it but he arrived just as Yaxley was finishing. There was also a group of people with him and Harry wasn't prepared to deal with them all. Cursing to himself, Harry tagged all the other people in the group and used some healing magic to try to sooth the poor woman's pains. He also left her with about 1000 Pounds as the least he could do for not being there to stop it in the first place. This did cement in his mind that Yaxley had to die, along with the others that were there. Dobby didn't make a peep.

Harry decided that Yaxley's demise would be as embarrassing as could be. The next day when Yaxley left work, Harry struck, stunning the man. Harry used his magic to cause Yaxley to choke to death on some popcorn. He then dressed the man up in muggle womans clothes and popped him into a x-rated theater. He was found when the movie was over and the police were called in. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement had contacts in all the muggle police departments (Something Fudge wasn't able to put a stop to) so when Yaxley's name came up (Thanks to a fake ID that Harry created) as a DOA, the Ministry was contacted. Yaxley's body mysteriously vanished from the morgue later that night and the report about his death and the circumstances under which he was found was leaked to the press (Thanks to Harry).

It caused quite the scandal in pureblood circles and Sirius laughed hid ass of when Harry told him what he'd done. The Minister was furious about the leak and an Auror lost his job. Harry would have felt sorry for the man but he was one of the men that was with Yaxley the night that Harry saw him Crucio the muggle. Harry figured that Amelia knew the man was no good and used the excuse to get rid of him.

The night after Yaxley met his end Harry popped into the Yaxley household. Yaxley had no wife or children so Harry wasn't worried about running into another Wizard. He was however worried about what would happen with the House Elf. As soon as Harry entered the house, said Elf popped in front of him and said, "What you'se be doing in my masters house.?"

"Your master is no more. You're a free Elf now."

"I be's still bonded to the Yaxley family. I'se not being free." Said the Elf looking offended at the prospect of being a free Elf.

"Then go to them. There is nothing for you here."

The Elf looked around reluctantly and then hung his head. He popped out. Harry was surprised that the Elf followed his instruction even if he didn't really know why. Harry hoped that whoever was the Elf's new master would treat him better than Yaxley did. The Elf was in a dirty tea towel and his hands were bandaged just like Dobby's were when he was a Malfoy Elf.

Harry then proceeded to 'liberate' all the former Death Eaters valuable possessions. He decided to keep them separate from all the other 'liberated' possessions since this was the first house that had an Elf attached to it. Harry remembered that the Hogwarts House Elves were able to locate and return all the lost or stolen possessions of the students an d wasn't sure if that was because of Hogwarts herself or something specific to House Elves. Dobby didn't know and replied that " _We's just know where masters things be._ '

Not willing to take the chance, Harry stored all the items in the cave that Sirius used to hang out in during his fourth year. He didn't need the galleons and could let the money and other valuables sit for a while. Now it was time to deal with the other people who liked to Crucio muggles. Over the next few weeks, several Wizards were found in embarrassing situations in the muggle world. The ones with the Dark Mark joined Yaxley in the next great adventure.


	18. Chapter 18

What The Chapter Eighteen

It was now time to clear Sirius's name so that Harry Jr. would have the option to stay with him instead of returning to the Dursleys. Harry/Dobby knew that there would still be a problem with Dumbledore but that would hopefully be cleared up when they destroyed all the Horcrux's. At the moment, getting Sirius's legal status straight was the priority.

To this rnd Harry had made some inroads with the new Minister even if she never knew where the information had come from. This is what led to the Minister finding another note from 'A Friend' sitting on her desk when she got into work one morning. Immediately calling in her guard detail to search the room and examine the letter, it was an hour before she read the note.

'Dear Minister.

I hope that you are well. How are you enjoying your new position? Everything is good I hope. I am hoping that you can help me with a small problem that has come up. I have recently come into possession of a living dead man. His name is, or was Peter Pettigrew. I happen to know that he has a Dark Mark on his arm and is missing a finger. Wasn't there only a finger found at the scene of his supposed murder? I would try to confirm this in the records of Sirius Black's trial but it appears that there never was one. I might have mentioned this in a previous letter. Anyway, talking it over with Sirius Black, who I also found by the way, we decided now that a responsible person was sitting in the Ministers chair, it would be a good time to hand over the burden that I am caring for. I will gladly place this burden in your capable hands. Sirius Black also said that he would also place himself in your capable hands, but I think he meant it in another way, a sexual way. He is a DIRTY DOG. Well back to the point, expect a package to arrive in the next few days, I believe that under questioning you will find a different story than one that the general public believes. Can a dead man be questioned under Veritasirum? What rights does a dead man have? I have it on good authority that if there would be a trial with Pettigrew as a witness, Mr. Black would be more than happy to show up. With a guarantee of safety of course. He has even agreed to answer any of your questions under Veritasirum if they're about that night and even his escape. What a guy. I should be able to provide some more information that should make the trial easier later.

A Friend

P.S.

Pettigrew is an unregistered Animagus. His form is that of a rat. Fitting, don't you think? You should take precautions.

P.P.S.

You might want to keep Auror's Johnson, Phillips, and Blankshire away from Pettigrew when he is in your custody. I don't think that they would treat the prisoner with the proper respect since they have a Dark Mark on their arms.

P.P.P.S.

I would like to keep the information as quiet as possible. I would make sure that the Auror's that guard the prisoner won't reveal anything to anyone until the trial, even Dumbledore.

P.P.P.P.S.

I like writing post scripts!'

Harry and Sirius were laughing their asses off as they watched Minister Bones's reaction to the letter later in a pensive. You could tell whenever she got to a shocking or humorous (to Harry) section of the letter because her face became pinched or extremely red. Apparently she and Harry had a different sense of what was funny. She did however immediately call for the questioning of the Aurors mentioned in the letter.

Harry had been checking out as many Ministry employees as he could over the months since his return. The lack of security in the Ministry concerning House Elves hade this relatively simple. He started in the Auror office since they would be the ones to cause the most problems for securing the Ministry. He had also started on the rest of the Ministry but it was slow going. He still didn't want to go into any houses that had a House Elf in them so checking out many of the Ministry employees took more time than others. Harry had found several marked Ministry employees so far and hadn't decided on what to do with most of them. Some he would turn in to the Ministry, like the three Aurors, and some he would take care of himself. He made a promise to himself and Dobby that he would only do something to the ones that were actively hurting other people and Dobby was OK with that.

Sitting on the couch, Sirius and Harry/Dobby were discussing Amelia's reaction to the letter and the hopefully the upcoming trial. After Sirius calmed down enough to speak again, he said "Did you see her face when she got to the part when Peter being alive was mentioned? Oh, Oh and the part where you mentioned that you found me? I haven't seen he lose her composure so badly since she found me and Angelina Shriff doing it in the Auror's girls locker room and I invited her to join."

Harry was still chuckling and asked "And did she?"

"Oh no, got all 'Proper Lady Bones'on me, my bits still hurt from the stinging hex she hit them with."

Harry couldn't take anymore and started rolling on the floor laughing. "She must have good aim to hit such a small target."

"Hey!" shouted Sirius, who then started to chuckle again. "A Bigger target than you got."

"Keep telling yourself that." Harry was happy that he and Sirius could make jokes between themselves with all the serious things that were going on. The tension between the two had lessened as Sirius recovered but had taken a step backwards since Harry had told a little bit of his past as Dobby being a Malfoy Elf. Harry wanted to keep the good mood going but he had to discuss the upcoming trial "So what are we going to do about the upcoming trial?"

This sobered Sirius up "If there is a trial."

"I have faith in the Minister, especially if she keeps Dumbledore out of it."

"I wish I had your optimism."

"I make my own optimism."

"That's just stupid." Responded Sirius, giving a little chuckle.

"Maybe, but I do. I will make sure that it will be a fair as possible and is something does go wrong…I'll take care of it. Don't worry, you'll never go back to Azkaban if I have anything to do about it."

"I appreciate that but,"

"No buts. I'll take care of it. Now we just have to figure out how to make sure you don't give any information out that we don't want the Ministry or anyone else to have."

"Like about the Horcrux's?"

"Yup, and about this place and a few other things. It wouldn't do anyone any good to know about what I'm doing with the Death Eaters."

"That would be bad even if nobody would believe that a House Elf could do it."

"Yeah. I want to avoid that so… I have a possible solution."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but you'll probably not like it."

Sirius tensed up. "What is it?"

"I will Obliviate you of all incriminating information before you turn yourself in."

"What!? But I'll forget all that we've done, all that I learned! What was the point of it all? Why did you have me learn the Horcrux cleansing ritual if I'm just going to forget everything about it?" Sirius sat down and just stared at Harry in confusion and a little hurt from what Harry could see. "Everything that I disused with Harry and Remus will be lost."

"Not everything."

Sirius looked at Harry inscrutably "What do you mean not everything? You DO know what the Obliviate does, Right?"

"I know, but I also know a way to beat it." Sirius didn't look convinced so Harry continued. "When you are Obliviated, your memories aren't really erased, they are just sort of… disconnected from the rest of your memories. That's why Obliviated memories can be restored with enough time and care by a competent Legillamancer. The problem is that it is such a delicate and dangerous endeavor that most mind healers won't even try to do it. If something goes wrong, the patient can loses the rest of their memories, even the memory of how to breath."

"That's terrible. And you want me to risk that?"

"Of course not. I actually know of a way to restore the lost memories that will have no major consequences."

"Really, what? And what do you mean by no major consequences? It sounds like you mean there will be some minor consequences."

"There might be some disorientation for a while, but it will go away eventually."

"And how soon is eventually?"

"A day or two."

"That doesn't sound too bad. What's the thing?"

"It's quite simple really. You just leave a copy of the memories that you intend to be Obliviated somewhere safe or with someone you trust. After the time where you need to keep the information secret has passed, you simply put back the memories and voila."

"That sounds almost too simple."

"That part is."

"That part? So what's the hard part?"

Well, you will also have to be confounded and a plausible story for the lost time will have to be introduced to fill the holes in your memory. You would have to find someone you would trust to do that for you and not take advantage of the situation."

"I'm… not sure I trust you enough to do that."

Even though Harry understood, Sirius had known him for only a little over a half a year and under strange circumstances after all; it still hurt to hear that. "I understand. I was actually thinking of Mooney to do it."

Sirius seemed to perk up at that suggestion "Mooney? I could see myself using him. I still don't understand how that will work though."

"As I said before, your memories aren't really gone, you just can't get to them. By using stored memories, the … connection is restored. The disorientation comes from the connections being put back."

"That sounds almost too good. I wonder how many criminals got off by doing that?"

"Probably not too many."

"How do you figure that? Its sounds like a perfect way to escape punishment."

"Well I figure that most criminals are caught red handed by the Aurors so they never get a chance to set it up. For the other ones, how many do you think have someone they trust enough to do that for them, and not take advantage?"

"I sure some of them do." And how about a vow to make sure nothing bad happens?"

"How many would take that vow? I'm sure there have probably been a few who have, but for the most part…" Harry let the thought hang.

Sirius considered this "Probably. It's still a ridiculously simple way to get around Veritasirum."

"I agree, but in this case it helps the good guy's.;

Sirius snorted "Whatever we are, we aren't the good guys."

After that the two men sat down and figured out the cover story they would use to explain what Sirius was doing until he turned himself in. When night fell they contacted Remus to get his approval of the plan along with his help with the cover story.

So far the general plan was this… Sirius saw the paper with the picture of Peter on the cover with the Weasleys and decided to escape to protect his Godson Harry Potter. It was determined to stick with the truth as much as possible. The story first took a turn at the meeting of Sirius and Dobby. Sirius would claim to have been wandering in his Animagus form around the British and Scottish countryside for months, not realizing the date. His confusion and mental state would be explained as remnants of his time with the Dementors. Sirius hated to give up the secret of his Animagus form but realized that it couldn't be helped. The story would continue with a strange House Elf appearing and taking him to a location that he had no idea where it was. This way he could explain how he looked so healthy and the truth about being taken by a House Elf would make the story easier to sell. The story goes on to claim that his only contact with his rescuer was through the House Elf (Technically true) and that he had no idea who his mysterious benefactor was. He would claim to only have contact through the Elf, who never said her name, and was finally convinced to turn himself in when it was discovered that Peter had been caught and also turned in.

All in all the story had many elements of truth so it should be able to pass Veritasirum questioning. Remus liked the story and as far as he knew the story about the Elf not revealing his master was the truth. There were to be no mentions of the Horcrux's or Dobby by name. There would be no mention of reestablishing contact with Remus or establishing contact with Harry. He would have to make sure that Harry Jr would keep his involvement with Sirius quiet, especially from Dumbledore. Harry/Dobby knew the man was Legilamancy happy and would undoubtedly scan Harry Jr.. Jr had been doing the Occlumancy exercises that were in the book that Harry/Dobby gave him over the summer and it seemed to be going well. Hermione had joined Jr with many of the exercises after Harry/Dobby gave her a copy of the same book, and things seemed to be progressing nicely. Harry/Dobby had no way to test Jr.'s shields so he would recommend that Jr. not look directly into the Headmasters eye's.

All this could wait until right before the trial though, right now it was important to get Peter safely into custody and make sure that a trial would really happen. The first steps of getting the marked Death Eaters out of the DMLE and a competent Minister had already happened. Harry was sure that the Auror office was a clean as he could get it ( He even actually cleaned the office while he was there. Damn House Elf instincts,) but he didn't know if there were any unmarked Death Eater sympathizers still around. This left keeping Dumbledore from interfering the next priority.

Harry /Dobby felt that Dumbledore was a good man, but he had some notions of how things should progress that caused many problems in Harry's last lifetime. To keep him away Harry started causing many pranks around the school. The Weasley twins took the blame for many of Harrys misadventures even though there was no proof of their involvement. Now that he really needed to keep Dumbledore's attention elsewhere he stepped it up a notch. On the day that Harry dropped Peter off at the Ministry he caused all the classroom doors in the castle to close and not reopen. The dorm and bathrooms stayed unaffected, all except for the Headmasters office. It took Fawkes flaming Dumbledore out of his office for the Headmaster to escape. Sophia was a big help with this prank and so no magic was found on the doors when the Headmaster and the teachers tried to investigate. The Aurors weren't even able to detect anything either. At noon the doors all unstuck and many students went to their classes after they had lunch. When the class time was to commence, the doors got stuck again. Many students and teachers were trapped in the classrooms, thinking the prank was over, and eventually Dumbledore had to use Fawkes to flash them out into the hall. The students enjoyed traveling by Phoenix flame and many stories were shared over dinner that night. Classes were canceled for the following day and the teachers, the Auror's and Dumbledore spent the whole day trying to figure out what happened. They never did.

Classes restarted the following day and Dumbledore had to keep a close eye on things in case he had to use Fawkes as emergency transport again. Never once did it cross his or the teachers minds to ask a House Elf to help with unsticking the doors or transporting the students to safety. Harry made sure that Fawkes had an extra special treat for all the work he was put through.

With Peter being secured in a DMLE holding cell and no one seeming to be the wiser, Harry pulled back on the pranks a little bit. Harry was a tad concerned that the information would make its way to Dumbledore because Kingsley Shackelbolt was one of the Auror's assigned to watch the prisoner, but so far so good. I guess the Twins were inspired because five days after the door prank happened, they were found in the kitchens asking for Dobby.

"Dobby my man… Elf." Said Fred.

"Just the Man… Elf we were looking for." Continued George."

"What do you'se twos want?" replied Harry/Dobby. So far he Twins hadn't approached him for help with their pranks, but it was only a matter of time.

Fred went on "We need a little assistance with an upcoming project."

George started "And we…"

He never got a chance to finish because Harry stopped him mid exchange. 'You'se pick one of you'se to speak. No bing bong bing between the two of you'se."

The twins seemed to be a little upset with this but came to the decision that the help that Dobby could provide was worth the hurt feelings. Everybody liked when they talked like that, Didn't they? Fred became the spokesperson and continued "Well we need your help with an upcoming prank."

"What Prank?" asked Harry, giving the twins a suspicious look. "You'se not going to go too fars?"

"Of course not my good man…Elf. We would never do such a thing." The glare that Dobby gave the twins had Fred Add "Anymore. We learned our lesson. "

Harry had to step in on two occasions to stop the twins from pulling a prank that would have caused harm to another student or been just… wrong. The first time had been a tripping hex rune that they tried to carve onto the stairs leading to the Dungeons. For this offence the twins were found in only their underwear, stuck to the same staircase. They were found the next day by a group of Hufflepuff students who (almost) immediately contacted Mrs. Sprout who was able to release them easily. They were lucky that the Hufflepuff work ethic had them up early and being the ones to find them. If the Slytherin's had been up first (Also having their common rooms in the dungeons) who knows what might have happened. Harry would have made sure that no harm would befall them, but the humiliation would have been much worse. There was a note on their beds that simply said 'Strike One'. They were quickly able to figure out that Dobby had been the one to stop them and leave the note and that was why Harry thought they hadn't contacted him yet. Too scared.

The second incident that the twins tried that caused Harry to interfere was when they tried to turn the wall between their dorm and the Girls dorm that was on the other side into a two way mirror. Sophia would never have allowed it to happen but the twins deserved some punishment for even trying. The next morning the twins woke up in the girls changing room at the Quidditch pitch. Having a practice that morning, the Ravenclaw girls walked into the room to find the sleeping boys. The screaming woke the twins up and after spending over an hour in Professor McGonagall's office, earning three weeks detention and the loss of fifty points, they returned to their dorms to a note that said 'Strike Two,'. They didn't want to know what strike three would bring.

Fred continued "Our idea for the prank is…"


	19. Chapter 19

What The Chapter Nineteen

Fred continued "Our idea for the prank is that we want to change all the school uniforms pink."

"Pink? That's alls? Nothing more?" replied Harry/Dobby, shocked at the simplicity of the prank.

"Yeah, just Pink." Fred went on. "Nobody gets hurt and it doesn't go too far…right." The twins gave Dobby a cautious look.

Harry thought about it for a moment then replied "Its sounds good. Whys you bring this to Dobby?"

"We need your help in getting to all the students robes at the same time. We know that the House Elves do all the laundry and you have the access. We also wanted to run it by you."

"Is it's a potion thens? You'se tested its? Its be safe?"

"Yeah, it lasts for twelve hours and whatever we tried wouldn't change it back. Maybe one of the professors might be able to stop it, but we don't think so."

"What's Dobby need to be doing?"

"All you have to do is put about a teaspoon full on a robe or article of clothing. We want you to do this to all the students clothes so that they have no choice but to wear something pink."

Harry/Dobby gave this a few moments of thought, mainly to make the twins sweat. "That doesn't sounds toos bad. Dobby wills do its."

The twins let out a relieved sigh "That's great Dobby, thank you."

"How you'se sets it off?"

"That's the best part, all it takes is getting it wet. We'll let off a mist in the great hall and it will set the whole thing off."

"How you'se going tos keep it from goings off early?"

"Oh, there's nothing we can do about that." The twins didn't seem too concerned.

Harry thought that would be fun and a good distraction for Dumbledore so he arranged for the twins to leave him the potion and he would have the House elves dose all the clothes overnight. He even had the Elves dose the teacher's clothes even though the twins didn't ask to include them.

The next morning in the great hall some students arrived with pink robes or a pink shirt. They were seen at the head table complaining to their head of houses, who were either trying to cancel the effect with Finete's or similar charms or simply ignoring them in the case of Snape. Dumbledore was just smiling merrily at the plight of his students. The students returned to their tables, still in pink clothes, to snickers and rude comments. About twenty minutes in to the meal a mist descended on the great hall and cries of indignation rose up. Everyone in the hall now had pink clothes, all of their clothes, and the snickering stopped. The snickering and laughter started again once the students looked to the head table and saw that all the teachers were also completely in pink. The most shocking off all was seeing Snape in pink robes with a face so red that tomatoes would be jealous. He was frantically casting spells on his robes trying to change them back to their normal black with no success. After a few moments of unsuccessful attempts he got up and left the great hall, presumably to change. Several other students had done similar and the great hall had started to empty. Harry had made sure that while the students were in the great hall, he activated the potion on all the other students clothes so when they returned to their dorms all they would find is pink clothes waiting for them.

The first class of that day was cancelled while the teachers tried to figure out why all the clothes were now pink. The twins were first suspected of causing this but were dismissed because even they couldn't have done this to everyone. They were more than happy with the results and had a good laugh at the situation. Classes resumed later that day and about twelve hours later all the clothes returned to normal, much to the students and teachers relief.

When the prank had first gone off, Harry had stationed himself in the corner with a wizards camera. He wanted to document the prank for posterity and he especially wanted to get a picture of Snape all in pink. Harry and Sirius had a good laugh later that night over all the pictures and a copy of the one of Snape found it's was onto the twins bed that night. It became one of their most prized possessions. Copies of that picture would be found posted randomly throughout the castle over the remainder of their years at Hogwarts.

While all this was going on at Hogwarts, Harry decided that it would be a good time to pop Sirius back to Hogwarts so he could say his goodbye's to Remus and Harry Jr.. Harry had faith hat Sirius would eventually be cleared but had no idea about how long it would take. They used this time to also go over the plan one last time. It was agreed that Remus would be the one to Obliviate Sirius the next day and implant the false story. It was a tearful Sirius who left a pensive Moony and Harry Jr later that night.

Amelia had been busy ever since Harry had dropped off Pettigrew in his rat form in a cage on her desk. She was shocked and a little angry that someone was able to bypass the security of her office so easily and often undetected but she didn't let that stop her from immediately securing Pettigrew. The rat woke up to find himself back as a human but with a pair of magic suppression cuffs on. His first thought were ' _Oh thank Merlin I'm no longer in that cage_.' Closely followed by ' _Where the hell am I_?' He looked at himself and noticed that he had lost a lot of weight and that his clothes were singed. His diet of bread and water had affected him greatly and the burns from being shocked whenever he tried to touch the cage he was in had followed his transformation.

The question of where he was now was quickly answered when two Auror's opened the cell door. They immediately grabbed him and escorted him to an interrogation room where Rufus Scrimgeour was waiting along with Amelia Bones. He was pushed down into a seat and stuttered out "A-A-Amelia h-how good to s-see you. Why a-am I here?"

Amelia scowled at the man in front of her and instead of answering him, she leaned over the table and ripped the sleeve of his left arm, showing a faded but definite Dark Mark. Leaning back, she said "Any other stupid questions?"

Pettigrew paled even more than he already was, "I-I-I- can explain. I had n-n-no choice"

Amelia shot him a disgusted look "You always were a sniveling little coward. How could you explain becoming a Death Eater?"

"I had no choice." pleaded Pettigrew.

"We all have a choice. I assume you didn't have a choice in betraying the Potter's either?"

"I-i-I didn't betray the Potter's. That was Sirius Black." Lied Pettigrew.

Amelia already knew this was a lie. When Pettigrew was first turned in, there was a note attached to the cage that gave some new information and a list of questions to ask Peter and Sirius when he turned himself in. Amelia had all of the questions that she could confirm independently checked out and they all turned out to be accurate. She devised a plan with Rufus to ask many of the questions to the prisoner and to get his excuses out of the way before confirming them with Veritasirum later. She had many of her Auror's look through case history to find out if there was a president on using Veritasirum on a reported dead man. Nothing was found so she would use the useful potion on Pettigrew. Pettigrew had been confirmed dead by the Ministry on that November day back in '81 and it has been over ten years without dispute to have made it official. Pettigrew was no longer considered alive according to wizarding law. This left him with no protections that a normal pureblood wizard would have, like protection from being dosed with Veritasirum against their will.

Amelia continued the questioning"You claim that you didn't betray the Potter's and that it was Sirius Black."

"That's right."

"Then why have you been in hiding for over ten years?"

"I was afraid."

"Afraid of what? Black was in Azkaban and the Dark Lord was dead."

"There were the Dark Lords followers."

"Why would you be afraid of them?"

"They would blame me for the Dark Lords death."

"And why would they do that?"

"They would think that I lead him onto a trap."

"But according to you, Black was the one to tell them about the Potters."

Pettigrew paled even more at the realization of his mistake "I-I-I-I…"

Amelia cut him off before he could go on. "Enough of your lies. Bring in the Veritasirum."

"You can't! I'm a pureblood. I have rights!"

"There was a smirk on Amelia's face "Wrong. You are a dead man and you have no rights. Auror's restrain and dose him." Peter struggled but he was easily overwhelmed. After the recommended three drops were administered and his eyes took on the glassy appearance that indicated the Veritasirum was working, Amelia started to ask her questions, "What is your mane?"

"Peter Stevenson Pettigrew." Peter answered in the emotionless tone that Veritasirum caused.

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"Yes."

"Did you willingly become a Death Eater?"

There was a little pause, "Yes."

Were you the Potter's secret keeper?"

"Yes."

"Did you give the secret to Lord Voldemort?"

Amelia was able to say the name without flinching but Rufus and all the Aurors couldn't stop themselves. Peter answered "Yes."

Did Sirius Black betray the Potter's?" Amelia knew the answer would be no but she wanted to have it on the record."

"Not knowingly"

"This answer needed to be followed up so Amelia said "Explain."

"Sirius Black recommended that I become the secret keeper."

"Did Sirius Black know that you were a Death Eater and is Sirius Black a Death Eater?"

"No to both."

"Was Sirius Black responsible for the death of the thirteen muggles on November '81?"

"No."

Who was?"

"I was."

Well that cleared up the charges that Sirius would face, so Amelia decided to try and get more information. "Are you an unregistered Animagus?"

"Yes."

"And what is your form?"

"A brown rat."

"How long have you been an Animagus?"

"Since fifth year at Hogwarts."

Amelia was surprised at this accomplishment. She remembered that the man in front of her was never that academically inclined or such a hard worker that he could accomplish such a feat of magic so young. "And how did you accomplish this?"

"With assistance from James Potter and Sirius Black."

"And were they Animagus's also?"

"Yes."

"What were their forms?"

"James was a stag and Sirius was a grim."  
Rufus turned to one of the Auror's "Jaceon, check the registry to see if any of those forms were ever registered when we are done.:

"Yes sir." answered the Auror.

Rufus nodded for the Minister to continue her questions and she did, "When did you become a Death Eater?"

"In July 1980."

"And what did you do for the Death Eaters?"

What followed was a list of crimes that included murder of muggles, giving address and passwords of fellow witches and wizards to the Dark lord, and general spying on Dumbledore and his organization, The Order of the Phoenix. Amelia always suspected that Dumbledore had formed his own organization to fight Voldemort but she never had any proof. She was just an ordinary Auror at the time so she never really looked into it. She was a little apprehensive about the illegality of the group but as long as they fought against Voldemort she wasn't too concerned.

With the Veritasirum wearing off and them not being able to dose Pettigrew for twelve hours without negative side effects, Amelia closed with "Did Dumbledore know who the Potter's secret keeper was?"

"I don't know."

"OK, that's all that I think that we can get out of him tonight, Return him to his cell and tell no one what was discussed today. Understood." She looked into each of the Aurors eyes and made sure they understood the seriousness of the situation. After they escorted Pettigrew out, she turned to Rufus, "So what do you think?"

Rufus took a moment to compose his thoughts and answered, "This is going to cause a shit storm when it goes public."

"Amelia snorted. "Understatement of the century. The people will go crazy because a hero is actually a villain. An innocent person has spent over twelve years in Azkaban, there was no reason for the Dementors to by patrolling our streets and the Ministry has allowed this to happen."

"I agree, but all of that was under a different administration."

"Most won't see it that way."

"Well there's nothing we can do about that other than try to show the current administration in the best light. Maybe if we get Harry Potter on our side. He should be happy to find out the truth about his parents betrayer and could probably put in a good word."

"I will not use an underage child to try and bolster our popularity." This was one thing that Amelia didn't like about Rufus. He was an excellent Auror and administrator but his desire to rise through the ranks overcame his sense of proper decorum more often than not. He would use anyone or anything for his benefit if he could, even an underage child.

Rufus back peddled a little, "Not for anything untoward, maybe just a simple statement."

"When this is all over if Potter wants to make a statement, that will be up to him."

"OK." Rufus didn't look too happy about that. "I wish we could have gotten some more information out of Pettigrew."

"I know, and we will. We just have to wait until it will be safe to do so. On the plus side we have a little time to investigate what he already told us."

"True, there's a lot to get to. I wish we got a few names though."

"Tomorrow. I'm sure I don't have to remind you how important it is to keep Pettigrew safe until we can get some more answers." Rufus nodded and headed out to get the investigation started. Amelia leaned back in her chair and sighed. The thoughts floating though her head as she headed back to her office were _'What a mess. I should never have taken the Ministers job_.'

Harry returned to Hogwarts directly after Pettigrew was questioned for the third time. He was able to tag Pettigrew with a House Elf tracking charm that went undiscovered by the Auror's. He was also able to stay disillusioned in a corner of the interrogation room with no problems. He was happy with how the questions went and felt that it was now time for Sirius to turn himself in. walking into the room of requirement, Harry called out "Sophia."

" _Yes my son_?" the castle responded.

"It's now time to turn Sirius over to the Ministry."

"" _Ok, my son_."

"I'm not sure if it's the right thing."

" _Why do you think that_?"

"I was able to find all the marked Death Eaters and have either taken care of them or they are not in a position to cause me problems. The problem is I don't know who all the unmarked supporters are."

" _That is a concern_."

"No Kidding."

" _The question you have to ask yourself is if there is anything else you can do."_

"That's just it, I don't know." Harry sat down on a chair that suddenly appeared in the room.

" _Then all you can do is move forward and face the consequences_."

It was now the day for Sirius to take one of the biggest risks of his life. Harry had left another note on Amelia's desk with the time and place and Sirius was now walking down the street in muggle London in his Animagus form with a pink bow on his head. Harry, Sirius and Remus had met up earlier that morning and Remus was successful in removing copies of the soon to be Obliviated memories and providing the new false memories. Before Sirius recovered his bearings, Remus Disaparated and Harry hid himself under a Disillusionment spell to follow him and make sure everything went to plan. The bow was something that Harry added after Sirius transformed and started on his way to the meet. What Sirius didn't know, wouldn't hurt him and hopefully would laugh at it when he found out.

A large black dog was seen approaching a woman on a bench in strange clothes before both seemed to not be there anymore. Before they both disappeared, Harry had heard a voice chanting a notice me not and assumed that it was an undercover Auror under an invisibility cloak. Harry was in the range of the notice me not so was able to watch as three Aurors suddenly appeared and stuned the dog. One of the Aurors waved his wand over the unconscious dog and Harry recognized it as a Animagus detection spell. After getting a positive response, an Auror placed a piece of string on Sirius and he disappeared. Harry felt the tracking charm that he placed on Sirius show that he was now at the Ministry and Harry knew that the string must have been a Portkey. The woman on the bench turned out not to be Amelia as he first thought. She ordered all the Aurors back to the Ministry and Harry followed. Hopefully everything will be alright.

AN

While writing this story the ending I envisioned no longer worked with how the story progressed. I am open to suggestions and other constructive criticism.


	20. Chapter 20

What The Chapter Twenty

Sirius awoke on a bed in his human form with a pair of magic suppressing cuffs on. Looking around he realized that he was in a cell in the Ministry of Magic. ' _At least I'm not in Azkaban_.' He thought. Getting up he looked around and paused when he caught his reflection on the window of his cell. ' _What the hell!?'_ his reflection showed his scruffy hair with a bright pink bow right in the center. He raised his hands and tried to remove it with increasing force until his head hurt. Giving it up as a lost cause, he sat back down and waited for someone to check up on him. He was not pouting, no sir.

Two hours later the cell door opened and two Aurors entered with their wands drawn. The first Auror spoke "Come along quietly and no funny business."

Sirius couldn't let that straight line go and responded "How about monkey business? Or maybe risky business? What about frisky business?" raising his eyebrow suggestively.

The Aurors didn't find that funny and just pointed their wands at the prisoner. "Move it, funny man."

Not wanting to push his luck too hard, Sirius stood and followed the Aurors out of the cell and to an interrogation room. He sat there for another three hours before three more people entered the room. The first that he was expecting to see was Amelia Bones. The second was someone that he didn't recognize and he figured that he was a regular Auror on protection detail. The third wasn't totally unexpected but still slightly unwelcome, Rufus Scrimgeour. Sirius never liked the man and the feeling was mutual. Rufus and Amelia sat down on the other side of the table from him and the Auror took his place in the corner of the room behind Sirius.

Amelia started everything off "Sirius Orion Black, you have been accused of betrayal of the Potters, murdering Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles and illegally escaping Azkaban Prison. What do you have to say for yourself?"

While most of his memories of what happened after he escaped Azkaban had been removed (even if he didn't know that), with the new implanted memories Sirius remembered how to respond, "I did none of that. I never betrayed the Potters and Peter is still alive. You should know that."

"And the muggles and escaping Azkaban?" Questioned Rufus.

"Peter caused the explosion that killed those muggles and I did escape Azkaban, but that wasn't illegal."

"How do you figure that?" asked Amelia.

"I was never sentenced to Azkaban so technically I was never an official prisoner. It's not illegal for a non prisoner to leave Azkaban, Is it?"

Rufus and Amelia both looked at each other before Amelia turned to Sirius and asked "Will you volunteer to take Veritasirum to confirm your responses to our questions?"

Sirius was uncomfortable with this but knew that if he wanted his freedom he had to go through with it 'I agree."

Amelia nodded to the Auror behind Sirius and he produced a vial of clear liquid from his robes. Sirius lent his head back and opened his mouth while the Auror placed three drops on his tongue. It took a moment for the potion to take effect and when Sirius's eyes turned glassy Amelia asked her first question "What is your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black." Sirius answered in the blank tone that indicated that the Veritasirum was working.

"When were you born?"

"November 3rd, 1959."

What happened when I walked in on you and Angelina Shriff doing it in the Auror's girls locker room?"

"I asked you to join and you hit me with a stinging hex to the twig and berries."

Both Rufus and the Auror cringed and Amelia smirked. She turned to Rufus and said, "It's working. He nodded back and Amelia continued to question Sirius. "Are you an unregistered Animagus?"

"Yes."

"What form does your Animagus take?"

"A black Grim like dog."

"How long have you been an unregistered Animagus?"

"Since fifth year at Hogwarts."

"Why did you become an Animagus?"

"To help out Mooney during the full moon."

"And who is Mooney?"

"Remus Lupin."

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"No,"

"Where you the Potters secret Keeper?"

"No."

"Who was?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"No."

Did you kill the twelve muggles on November first, 1981?"

"no."

Who did?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

Amelia knew that the effectiveness of the Veritasirum would wear off soon so she asked her final questions of this interview, "When were you sentenced to Azkaban?"

"I never was."

"Did anyone help you escape Azkaban?"

"No."

"Why did you escape Azkaban?"

"I saw a picture of Peter on the front cover of the Daily Prophet and realized that he was near my Godson at Hogwarts. I had to protect my Godson and wanted to kill the traitor."

"When was Peter Pettigrew on the cover of the Daily Prophet and how did you get a copy of the paper when you were in prison?"

"Peter was in his Animagus form of a rat with the Weasley family when they won the Prophet Grand Prize draw. Fudge gave me the paper when I asked for it while he was visiting Azkaban."

Amelia could see Sirius's eyes starting to clear so ended the interview. When Sirius was returned to his cell, she turned to Rufus, "Well that confirms everything we got out of Pettigrew."

"Yeah, I almost wish it hadn't. It would've been so much easier to just send him back to Azkaban." responded Rufus. Amelia gave him a scathing look and he back peddled "Not that we will."

Amelia calmed down and replied." We still have a few more questions for Black before we can proceed. When we get all we can we have to find a way to get him a trial and to get Pettigrew one too. At least no one helped him escape. The mess with Barty and his son was problem enough. We had to get rid of three Azkaban guards because of it. The note that we got from our mysterious friend has proven right so far and he recommends keeping Dumbledore out of it. Seeing as how he was Chief Warlock at the time that Black was chucked into Azkaban without a trial, I'm thinking that's a good idea. If it's true that Black was part of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix that raises several red flags. He was also right about Black being Harry Potter's Godfather. "

"We'll question Black about that next time, and also on what he was doing while he was free. I agree that trusting Dumbledore is premature. I never liked that man. For someone that claims to not want power, he holds most of the power in Magical Britain. That bit about Black being the Godfather just adds another level to the problem."

"Let's try to figure out what to do next. We can question Black tomorrow at 11:00 am. Be in my office at 10 and we can go over what we want to ask then. Also get a copy of the Prophet with the Weasleys on it and have it checked to see if there is a rat in it. We were going to have to question the Weasley's anyway because of Pettigrews testimony. You should be able to call Arthur to your office quietly, just make sure you don't mention Pettigrew by name."

"Why should I say he is being questioned?"

"Amelia thought for a moment. "Say that it is a review for a possible promotion. You just had some questions about the Prophet Draw. Have the paper there and subtly mention the rat."

Rufus didn't look happy but nodded and left the room. Amelia was lost in thought ' _Why did I Agree to become Minister again? It's nothing but headache after headache. Well, better me than Fudge or Merlin forbids Umbridge. Thank Morgana they're both gone. Now if only I knew who the mysterious letter writer was, and what's up with the pink bow in Blacks Hair? It's utterly ridiculas._ ' After another few moments to compose herself, Amelia left. When the room was empty, a familiar Elf under an Elf Disillusionment and Notice-Me-Not also left.

Popping straight back to Hogwarts, Harry/Dobby made his way to Professor Lupins office. He had promised Remus that he would keep him up to date on what was going on with Sirius. As soon as he entered Remus asked "So how'd it go? Is Sirius alright?"

"Yas sir, professor wolfy." Harry had heard other Elves call Remus that and liked it, even if Remus didn't. "Everythings bes fine. Dobby gives memory for professor wolfy to sees." Using his finger, Harry produced a memory of Sirius's questioning for Remus to watch in the Pensive that Harry had brought earlier. When Remus had finished watching the memory he said "That wasn't too bad. They didn't test the new memories yet so we'll have to wait and see if they work. And what's up with the pink bow?"

Harry snickered. "Pretty doggy need pretty bow."

"But he was transformed…never mind." Remus also gave a little snicker. "What now?"

"Nows we wait. Youse tell Harry Potter everything bes fine and Dobby keeps Blacks safe."

"OK."

"Professor wolfy, Dobby has question?"

"What is it Dobby?"

"Why ask name and birty day under truthy sirum? Dobby thinks thay bes easiest questions to answer with or withouts truthy sirum. Its seems stupid questions to asks?"

"Well Doby, it'd just the standard question to ask. It's really just to establish the name for the record in case they are questioned about it. It was the third question that was the real one. Amelia, uh, Minister Bones did a good job asking an embarrassing question. Although knowing Sirius he would've answered it even without the truthy, I mean truth potion."

"OK, byes." And with that Harry popped away to the Room of Requirement and called out "Hey Sophia, I'm back."

" _I am aware of that my son_."

'Uh, right. Well everything is going well so for with Sirius. They really haven tried the new memories yet, so fingers crossed.

" _I don't have fingers_."

"It's just an expression… never mind." Harry was sure that he heard the castle snicker. "Oh very funny."

" _I thought so_."

"Whatever. Anyway, tomorrow looks like when they will be tested."

" _Fingers crossed_."

Harry mumbles "Stupid castle." Louder he said "Did anything happen while I was gone?"

" _There were three fights that were soon broken up. The fights were a third year Hufflepuff against a fifth year Ravenclaw, the Hufflepuff started it and both were caught by a teacher and both were assigned detention. The second fight was between a seventh year Slytherin and a seventh year Griffindor. The Griffindor started the fight and it was once again stopped by a teacher. Only the Griffindor received detention and a loss of points_."

"Let me guess, the teacher was Snape."

" _You are correct_."

"And the third fight?"

" _Two first year Griffindors. It was stopped by a Prefect and no punishment was given. Since no spells were cast I agree with this action_."

"Two firstys huh. I wonder what the fight was about?"

 _One claimed that the other one stole his homework_."

"And did he?"

" _No. It was later found in one of the students books_."

"Well that's good. Anything else? What about the students I had you keep an eye on?"

" _Everyone has been doing their regular things. No suspicious activity_."

"That's good. I have enough to worry about with Sirius as it is." Relaxing for the first time that day, Harry lay down on a bed that suddenly appeared. "Wake me if anything happens."

" _Yes my son_."

Four hours later Harry awoke refreshed. He popped to the kitchens to have a meal with the other House Elves and then popped to the Ministry to keep an eye on Sirius. Three hours later he was glad that he did. It was a little after two in the morning when he heard a thump down the hall from Sirius's cell. Looking out the window of the cell door he saw an Auror on the floor and a trail of glimmering air, the telltale sign of a disillusionment spell, coming down the hall toward him, and more importantly Sirius. Not wanting to be caught and still wanting to protect Sirius, Harry took a moment to figure out what to do. Remembering how he handled Umbridge earlier, he popped to the downed Auror and used his wand to send a stunner at the disillusioned man. Not expecting an attack the stunner connected and the man went down. Harry then fired a spell at one of the empty cell doors that caused an alarm to go off.

Returning to Sirius's cell he watched as three mere Aurors arrived on the scene and restrained both downed men before reviving them. This was the first time that Harry had a chance to look at the disillusioned man and he recognized him as one of the Aurors that brought Sirius from his cell. He had joined the Auror detachment after Sirius was captured and more Aurors were needed to guard both Sirius and Peter. Both were sent to separate integration rooms and were awaiting questioning. Both wands were confiscated and checked with Priori Incatatum. In fact the perpetrator had a second wand which was the one he used to stun the guard. Several dark and illegal spell were discovered to have been cast by that wand.

It wasn't until six that morning that a frazzled looking Amelia and a grumpy looking Rufus entered the first interrogation room. Harry popped in to hear what was being said

"…just fell. The next thing I know I'm being revived with cuffs on my hands and brought here."

Amelia asked. "You know nothing about the actions of Marvin Hamlish?"

"No. I relieved him about twenty minutes prior to being hit with…whatever hit me."

"It was a simple stunning spell." Responded Rufus. "You have no recollection of sending a stunning spell back at Mr. Hamlish?"

"No. nothing. Sorry. Am I in trouble?"

Amelia answered. "That remains to be seen. Would you be willing to answer questions under Veritasirum?" When the Auror looked hesitant she added "I will only ask questions about this incident."

The Auror took a moment and responded with a "Yes Maam." It said a lot about Amelias character that her word was believed by the Auror.

I took a few moments for the Veritasirum to arrive and once the three drops were administered Amelia asked her questions. They were the same questions she asked before other than the standard name and birthday ones. True to her word, after the questions about the incident were asked and answered, she stopped the questioning. Once the Veritasirum wore off she dismissed the Auror with desk duty until the situation had been resolved.

Stepping into the next interrogation room she was immediately met with "I didn't do it. I must have been Imperiused!"

Amelia and Rufus said nothing as they entered and sat down, letting the man ramble on. In there was anything else that confirmed his guilt in their eyes, it was how he was constantly making excuses. After a few minutes Amelia Shouted "ENOUGH!" This caused the man to shut up and sit back down. Amelia continued "You were found with an illegal wand…"

Auror Hamlish interrupted, 'I was Imperiosed."

Amelia stopped him before he could continue "I highly doubt that but there is a simple way to confirm that." She pulled a vial of clear liquid from her robes and placed it on the table." Take Veritisirum."

Auror Hamlish paled. Stuttering, he answered "I-I-I'm a pureblood! I don't have to take it."

Amelia smirked "Normally that would be true, but your oath as an Auror allows for you to be questioned under orders from the head of the DMLE." Turning to Rufus, she asked. "Do I have your approval to question this Auror under Veritasirum?"

Rufus nodded and replied "You do."

Turning back to Auror Hamlish, Amelia called two Aurors to force (soon to be ex) Auror Hamlish to take three drops. After a few moments when his eyes turned glassy Amelia asked her questions "What is your name?"

"Marvin Sylvan Hamlish."

"What is your birthday?"

"March 24th 1971."

"What is your darkest secret?"

"I bribed the instructor to get approved for Auror training."

This shocked both Rufus and Amelia. This would be something both would have to look into when they leave here. Amelia continued "Do you know of anyone else that bribed their way onto the Aurors?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

Auror Carmichal, Jones and Smith."

Remus interrupted "This is important and we will be following up on this but we need to know about what happened this morning."

"You're right." Amelia collected herself. She had spent many years as the head of the DMLE and to find that this corruption was so wide spread in her old department was discouraging. She continued "Did you stun Auror Lankshire tonight?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do so?"

"I planned to kill Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black."

"Why?"

"It would put me in good standing when the Dark Lord rises again."

"The Dark Lord was defeated in 1981."

"I don't believe that."

Realizing that this was a pointless area of questioning, Amelia redirected her questions. "What was your plan for Pettigrew and Black?"

"I was going to kill both and take Pettigrews body and make it look like he killed Black and escaped."

"Did you have any help?"

"My father is waiting at home to help me dispose of the body."

Amelia noticed that the Veritasirum was starting to wear off and stopped the questions. When Hamlish was taken to a cell, she turned to Rufus "This is unacceptable. I want all Aurors questioned under Veritasirum to confirm their loyalties to the department." Putting up a hand to stop Rufus from interrupting "I don't care. We've had six Aurors either quit under mysterious circumstances or die after hours in the last year. They all looked like natural causes or accidents but I don't know anymore. I want to be sure of all DMLE personal."

That's going to cause problems."

"At this moment I don't care."

"Fine, but I want it in writing and I want you to provide the questions."

"OK, I'll have it for you in a moment. Start with your trusted Aurors so you have back up if you run into problems. After you clear at least five, then move on to the admission Auror. Send two to pick Auror Hamlish's father. Send the others to watch the cells. I'll wait down here until you personally bring another three Aurors down."

Amelia wrote the orders and questions down for Rufus and he left with the vial of Veritasirum. It was one hour before he returned with three Aurors and Amelia left. The Ministry was abuzz that day, Rumors flying and complaints piling up on the Ministers desk. Harry was glad that he decided to watch over Sirius.


	21. Chapter 21

What The Chapter Twenty One

For the next three days Sirius wasn't questioned while the Auror office was being cleared by Rufus Scrimgauer and the Aurors that were already cleared by Veritasirum. Ten Aurors were assigned deck duty while their answers were being investigated further and three were immediately let go for cause. One was even locked up in a cell in another part of the DMLE away from Sirius and Peter.

The time had come for Sirius to be questioned again and he found himself in a room with Amelia, Rufus abd a familiar pink haired Auror. "Nymp…" Sirius started but was cut off immediately.

"Auror Tonks. Say anything else and you'll be heading back to Azkaban whether you're guilty or not."

Before Sirius could respond, Amelia cleared her throat, "ehem, as unlikely as that will happen" she gave a hard look at Aurur Tonks who looked sheepish." Do refrain from engaging with my Aurors." Sirius sat back down and Amelia continued. "We have a few more questions for you before we can proceed to trial. Do you agree to continue being questioned under Veritasirum?"

Without hesitation Sirius said, "I do." He was as anxious to get this over with as everyone there. Three days in a cell with no contact was a little too reminiscent of Azkaban. Thankfully there were no Dementors.

After the three drops were delivered, Amelia started her questions. The name and birthday ones were the same but the third was different. "What did Mad-Eye Moody do when he caught you sleeping during your shift?"

"He put a Portkey on me that sent me to the lion cage at the London Zoo and then back Ten seconds later. He then spent over an hour yelling at me that any Tom, Dick, or Death Eater could do the same but without bringing me back. I believe he yelled "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" over fifty times during that rant."

Rufus commentated, "I remember that. We were lucky that it was after hours and no muggles saw anything."

Amelia nodded, also remembering the event. She continued with her questions. "How did you escape Azkaban Prison?"

This question brought up the point that Sirius most wanted to avoid. He realized through many discussions with Harry/Dobby and Remus that to be set free that this was one secret that could no longer be kept. "I escaped by transforming into my Animagus form and sneaking past the guards and swimming to the mainland."

"And what is your Animgus form and are you registered?"

"My form is of a large black dog and I never registered."

"Why not?"

"We were at war and I didn't trust the Ministry to keep it a secret from the Death Eaters."

This confirmed Peter Pettigrew's earlier testimony. Amelia and even Rufus didn't like it but they could understand that so they moved on. Amelia asked, "What did you do then?"

This is where the first of Sirius's modified memories kicked in. "I wandered the countryside for I don't know how long, when I found myself near London. I don't know how long I was wandering but it was getting warmer. All of a sudden I found myself in a house…"

"Amelia interrupted, "What house? Where?"

"I don't know. There were no windows."

"OK, go on."

"I awoke and a House elf gave me a note that said it knew who I was and that I was innocent and that he would be able to prove that shortly and to recover."

Amelia was reminded of the mysterious letter writer that had started this whole mess. "Do you know who sent the letter? Did you ever meet him?"

"I don't know and I never met him."

"Then how did you recover if you were trapped?" asked Rufus.

"There was this House Elf named Jhonty that cleaned the house and brought me food and potions." replied Sirius. Jhonty was agreed on for the name of the mysterious House Elf because there were no House Elves named Jhonty that Harry knew of, and if there were it would have no idea about anything.

"How long were you at the house?"

"I'm not sure. I do know that a few months passed and then I received a note that said Pettigrew was captured and a few weeks after that I received a note with a picture of my Godson."

This alarmed Amelia. Whoever had captured Sirius and Pettigrew had been able to snap a photo of the Boy-Who-Lived while he was at Hogwarts, The safest place in the wizarding world, or so was claimed. Amelia wasn't so sure about that claim after some of the rumors that were floating around. One of the more believable ones was that Dumbledore kept all photos of Harry Potter from making their way to the public. Amelia was never sure how he accomplished that but she never saw a picture in the Daily Prophet even when she knew Potter was mentioned. Even the shot with Lockhart in Flourish and Blotts that she heard about never made it into the paper. If that was the case, how did the mysterious letter writer get his hands on a picture of Potter?

Sirius continued. "I received a new picture every week and for Christmas I was able to send him a note."

"And did he get it?"

"I don't know. I never received a note back but the pictures kept coming."

It was decided to keep Harry Jr and Remus out of the story as much as possible. Remus had a natural immunity to Veritasirum and it was illegal to give it to children under seventeen. Remus had agreed and Jr did also, saying that he would confirm receiving a note at Christmas but not taking it too seriously. Sirius got a chuckle out of that.

"What Happened after that?'

"It was quiet for a while, then I received a note that said Pettigrew was turned over to the DMLE and a few days later a note that said it was safe to turn myself in."

"How did you leave the house that you were in and reach the agreed meeting place?"

"I received another note with the time and place of the meeting that was a Portkey."

Rufus interrupted. "We found no such note on your person."

"I dropped it when I arrived."

Amelia turned to Auror Tonks "When we are done here send a squad of Aurors to look for the note at the scene. If we find it maybe we can trace it back to the location that Black was staying at."

Harry/Dobby watched Tonks nod back to her boss and thought ' _I'm sure glad that I already claimed the letter_.'

Amelia turned back to Sirius and saw that the Veritaserum was starting to wear off so asked her final question "What do you plan to do if you are released?"

Take care of my Godson like I should have done twelve years ago."

When the effects of the truth serum had completely worn off and Black was back in his cell, Amelia lay her head on the table and Rufus spoke up "The March Wizengamot is going to be a shit storm isn't it?"

Amelia could do nothing but groan in response. Auror Tonks broke into the conversation "So he really is innocent?"

Rufus replied "It looks that way."

"My mom always thought that he was."

Amelia finally spoke up from the table "Shouldn't you be searching a crime scene?"

"Oops" was all Tonks said before practically running out of the room to begin the investigation.

After a minute of silence Rufus asks "How are we going to handle this."

"Well, we have to hold a trial to officially clear Blacks name and to sentence Pettigrew."

"I know. What I meant was, are we going to do that at the March Wizengamot meeting or before?"

"Both have their issues. If we do it before we can hold a trial with a limited number of Wizengamot members and it should go relatively quickly, but Dumbledore will have a greater chance to interfere. On the other hand if we do it at the full wizengamot meeting Dumbledore has less control but there are more people to interfere. Since Lucius Malfoy an several other of the Dark aligned families seemed to have suffered lately it shouldn't be too bad, but it will also take away from the election of the new Minister."

"Are you still running for the position?"

"Since the other candidates are Piaes Thicknes and Elphias Doge, I have to. I don't trust either of them. Piaes was too chummy with Malfoy and his lot and Elphias has his nose stuck so far up Dumbledore's ass that it isn't even funny. I'm surprised that you didn't put your name in foe consideration."

I thought about it but decided that it wasn't the right time."

' _More likely that you knew that you wouldn't win against any of the other candidates_.' Thought Amelia. "OK, I'll let you know by the end of the day what I decide."

When Amelia got back to her office she was surprised to find a note on her desk. _'Not again_.' She thought. Reading the note didn't make her mood brighten. It read.

'Dear Minister. Now that you have questioned both Black and Pettigrew and have confirmed for yourself the truth of the statements that I have previously provided, it is time to move on to the trial. I know that you are considering either a small trial before the March Wizengamot or a full trial at the March meeting. I would recommend a small trial. I also know that you are taking my warning about keeping Dumbledore out of the loop seriously and I thank you. I can guarantee that Dumbledore will not interfere with the small trial like you fear. Good job with cleaning up the DMLE and Good luck as a Ministerial candidate.

P.S.

Thickness always keeps a second wand on his person. You should see what kind of spell he uses with it. Also Doge is in debt with the Goblins but Dumbledore is keeping it quiet.

A Friend.'

Sitting back in her chair, Amelia closed her eyed and let out an audible sigh. The letter, even though giving some good information and a clear path forward for the trials caused even more questions. ' _How did this mysterious 'Friend' know that the questioning of Black and Pettigrew was complete or even how it had been done in the first place? How did this 'Friend' know she was debating over a small trial or a full one at the March Wizengamot meeting, and how did he know that she was worried about Dumbledore's interference? And how was he going to keep Dumbledore, a powerful wizard from interfering in the trial? How did he know about Thickness's other wand or Doge's problem with the Goblins? And how the HELL did he keep getting a note onto her desk in the most secure office, in the most secure department in the freakin Ministry!?_ '

When she opened her eyed she saw a glass, a bottle of very fine Firewhisky and another note that just said 'You need to relax' on her desk. After being checked, the bottle was empty by the end of the day.

It was two days later when the trial date was set. Since the Wizengamot meeting was to be on Wednesday, March third, the trial was set for Monday the first. That only gave everybody three days to get ready. The summons for Wizengamot members requested seven members to attend a trial but no name of the suspect was given. Amelia once again wondered how her 'Friend' was going to keep Dumbledore out of it since she had to send him a notice also. She did send Albus his notice at the end of the day as she was leaving her office. She made sure to tell all the Ministry employees to NOT direct any of Dumbledore's inquires to her over the weekend.

For his part, Harry kept Dumbledore quite busy that weekend. He started this off by helping the twins with their latest prank. They had come to him a week ago with the idea to mess with the food plates. The prank was that whenever a plate had food on it and a fork or spoon got close, the plate would shoot away. On that Friday once the morning meal was underway, Harry activated the prank. All at once plates started flying all over the place and students and teachers alike were suddenly covered with food. Harry had the kitchen Elves make sure to have a lot of sticky and gooey food on the table so the food was sticking to everywhere it hit. Chaos reigned and once it was discovered that the silverware caused the plates to shoot off, many students started to make a game of it until the Headmaster stood up and got everyone's attention. "Quite an exciting breakfast if I do say so myself, However," at this he swept his wand over the Great Hall and all the food disappeared. This got a groan from Ron who was still eating with his hands. "Please Leave the Great Hall so the teachers can investigate what caused this… occurrence."

Reluctantly the student left while the teachers examined the plates and silverware. Flitwick was the first to discover that it was a simple banishing charm tied between the plate and the silverware. The charms were easily dispelled but it took time since each piece had to be done one by one. Since the other teachers had classes to get too, this left Dumbledore with the tedious work. It was close to lunchtime by the time that Dumbledore was done with the job. When the same thing happened at lunch it was a frustrated Dumbledore that had sandwiches served at dinner (no silverware required).

When the Ministry Owl arrived later that night with the notification of the trial for Monday, Harry made sure to place it on the bottom of the stack of paperwork on the Headmasters desk. Saturday was relatively quiet. Harry only caused a minor disturbance during the dinner meal by having the deserts served first. The student had no problem with this and many requested that this happen every meal.

Sunday also started off quietly until a little after two in the afternoon. At that time Dumbledore received a Floo call from Elphias Doge to talk about the upcoming election. At this time Harry had been splitting his time between Hogwarts and watching over Sirius at the DMLE. Since Amelia had all the Aurors questioned, he felt better about leaving Sirius alone but he still spent a good amount of time in the cell with him. He was at the cell when Sophia had another House Elf tell him about the call in Dumbledore's office. Harry quietly pooped into the hidden corner while Doge was complaining about not having enough votes to successfully attain the Minister position. Dumbledore was assuring him when Doge mentioned the upcoming trial on Monday. _'Damn_!' thought Harry.

Dumbledore quickly disconnected the call and contacted the Ministry to find more information. He was unsuccessful in getting in contact with the Minister but was informed that a notice was sent to him. While Dumbledore had his head in the floo Harry moved the notice to the top of hi paperwork pile. When Dumbledore finally sat at his desk he saw the notice and a concerned look crossed his face. After reading the notice he popped a lemon drop into his mouth and Harry got an idea.

The rest of the day Dumbledore worked on paperwork and continually tried to contact the Minister for more information on the upcoming trial, After all he was the Chief Warlock, it was his right to interfere… inquire about the particulars of the case. He even sent Fawkes with a note to the Minister directly which pissed Amelia off. Fawkes returned without a note and refused to return when Dumbledore tried to send him with another note. Harry wondered what Amelia did to scare a Phoenix and made sure to watch what he did around her from now on. Maybe the Firewhisky was a bit too much.

When Dumbledore was getting ready for bed that night Harry started the first step of his plan. As usual Dumbledore selected a Lemon Drop from the bowl on his desk. The difference this time is that it was laced with a Pepper Up potion that Harry had exchanged earlier. Normally Dumbledore's Lemon Drops had a mild calming draught infused. This would usually settle him down and let him get a good night's sleep. The Pepper Up had the exact opposite effect. Dumbledore spent the entire night tossing and turning. He also kept popping more of the Lemon Drops in the hope of getting some sleep which only made the problem worse.

It was the next morning while Dumbledore was getting dressed in his Wizengamot robes that Harry enacted the second part of his plan. Harry now replaced the Pepper Up tainted Lemon Drops with ones that were laced with a sleeping draught. When Dumbledore slumped asleep in his chair, Harry moved into his bed and made sure that he wouldn't be disturbed. This wouldn't be a problem since Dumbledore had informed his staff that he would be attending a trial at the Wizengamot. Before Harry left he made sure to replace the Lemon Drops with their normal calming draught. He kept the other tainted ones to maybe use at a later date.

Harry Popped into Remus's office to find him and Harry Jr. talking. After a few minutes spent reassuring both men that everything would work out fine, he popped to the Ministry for the trial of Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew.

 **AN.**

 **A New Year and hopefully I will update this story on a more regular basis. Please review and give any suggestions on where I should I go with this story, I'm still trying to figure out the ending since the story started to go places I originally didn't plan for it to go. Let me know what you think and Happy New Year.**

 **CVT**


	22. Chapter 22

What The Chapter Twenty Two

Harry/Dobby popped into Sirius Blacks cell to find the man pacing nervously. Wanting to keep his involvement quiet until after the trial, he remained disillusioned in the corner of the cell. It was thirty minutes later when three Aurors entered the cell and placed Magic Restraining Handcuffs on Sirius and led him out. Harry followed behind and it was a quick elevator ride down to courtroom five in the basement of the Ministry. This was a smaller courtroom than the one that he was tried in in his fifth year but was a bit larger than the one that Umbridge used to sentence Muggleborn when he, Hermione and Ron broke in during their hunt for the Horcruxes.

There were seven people sitting on a raised dais . two desks, each with two chairs, a single chair in the corner and a small single person desk that Harry figured was for the court scribe, and a single chair in the center of the room. Harry immediately recognized the chair as the same one that he sat in during his trial. Unlike the time when he sat in it, when Sirius sat down, the chains actually wrapped around him. There was no seating for any citizens or Press. After making sure that Sirius was OK, Harry turned his attention to the seven people on the dais. Harry knew three of the judges and recognized the other four from his investigation of the Ministry. The three that he recognized were Augusta Longbottom, Nevill's Grandmum, Piaes Thickness, and Elpias Doge. Harry figured that they were planning to use the trial to either increase their popularity of sabotage the popularity of their upcoming opponent for the New Ministers election. Hopefully it wouldn't cause a problem.

The other four were Thadious Nott, the Uncle of a Slytherin student at Hogwarts that Harry knew little about, Jonathan Spickle, Angus Drage, and Cyrus Bumlip. The last three Harry knew little about other than that they didn't have a Dark Mark on their arms and that they hadn't committed any crimes while Harry observed them during his investigation. Harry hoped that they would be fair, especially with the overwhelming evidence, but was still a nagging question.

Harry noticed Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour sitting at one of the two person tables while the other one was empty. The Judges were talking amongst themselves and didn't seem too concerned that the mass murderer Sirius Black was before them. Harry immediately realized that the trial for Peter Pettigrew had preceded Sirius's trial and hopefully everything had gone well. Harry wished that he was there for that trial but had decided to stay with Sirius instead.

Amelia stood and cleared her throat which got the judges attention. "Honorable members of the Wizengamot, feeling that the previous trial answered all pertinent questions, I move to declare Sirius Orion Black innocent of all charges filed against him."

The judges talked amongst themselves for a few moments and then Elphias Doge spoke for them all, "I agree and the vote is six to one in favor for acquittal." Harry wondered who the one vote against was from. Doge continued. "We also award the sum of one thousand Galoen's for each year that the prisoner, Sirius Orion Black was wrongfully imprisoned and recommend a full investigation be launched."

Both Harry and Sirius had the same thought, _'What the!? That's it!?_ '.

The chains holding Sirius to the chair came loose and an Auror approached to remove the handcuffs. Sirius looked around with a dumbstruck look on his face and Amelia approached him, "Mr. Black, will you please follow me. We have some paperwork for you to fill out."

Still confused, Sirius looked at her and asked, "That's it? No questions, just you're good to go?"

"We held Pettigrew's trial before yours and all the relevant questions were answered. The only reason we brought you down here was to officially clear your name for the record. You are now a free man."

"Free…" Sirius let the word escape from his mouth. He dreamed about this moment for so long. Now that it was here he didn't know what to do next.

Amelia interrupted his musing, "Please follow me." she turned around and a moment later Sirius followed her in a daze.

They made it to the Ministers office, garnering a lot of curious and even fearful looks. The news of Sirius innocence had not become public knowledge yet and quite a few people freaked out seeing the mass murder walking the halls. If it wasn't for the Auror presence Harry, following behind, was sure that someone was going to try to hex Sirius. On second thought, looking at the fear in the eyes of the Ministry employees, Harry figured that nobody would have done anything. ' _No wonder it was so easy for Voldemort to take over last time_.'

Finally making it to the Ministers office, Harry followed Sirius in and heard Amelia offer, "Please have a seat Mr. Black. That will be all Auror Smithe and Shackelbolt. Please wait outside." Both Aurors didn't look too comfortable leaving the Minister alone with Black but nodded and left the room. "Now Mr. Black.… what are your plans?"

Coming out of the daze he was in, he repeated "Plans?"

"Yes, now that you are free what do you plan to do?"

The first thought that popped into Sirius's head was ' _Harry'_. "Harry, my Godson… I plan to finally take care of him like I should have all those years ago."

Amelia nodded her head. "I figured something like that. You mentioned it during your questioning. You do know that it won't be as easy as think, right."

A little flush of anger crossed Sirius's face, "And why not?! I am his sworn Godfather!"

"Calm down Mr. B lack."

Sirius took a moment and continued, "I have every right to Harry. I know that it was in James and Lily will that either I or Alice Longbottom would raise Harry is anything happened to them. I heard about what happened to Frank and Alice so it falls to me." Sirius was getting agitated at the end of his speech.

"Since the Potter wills were never read, we have no such proof that young Mr. Potter was supposed to go with you."  
"WHAT!?"

This outburst did draw the Aurors that were waiting outside the Minister office to reenter with wands drawn. Amelia waived them off and waited for Sirius to calm back down. "Calm yourself Mr. Black."

In a quiet voice that did nothing to hide the rage he felt, Sirius said "What do you mean the Potter wills were never read?"

"They were sealed by…"

"Dumbledore." Sirius completed for Amelia.

"Correct. He also claimed guardianship for Harry Potter."

"Son of a bi…" grumbled Sirius, the last words becoming unintelligible. It was silent for about a minute before Sirius continued, "I don't care about anything else, I'm going to get Harry back! What do I need to do? Will you help?"

Amilia pondered for a moment and replied, "I will help you…" Sirius's face lit up and Amelia continued, "Butt… you will have to prove that you will be a fit guardian. I don't like the way that Dumbledore handled the situation back than but I will not place a child in a unstable environment."

Sirius was nodding his head. I'll do anything."

"Good. OK first, you will have to undergo a full exam at St. Mungo's. Both physical and mental."

"No problem."

"Are you so sure about that? You did spend twelve years in Azkaban. I don't know anybody that left that Hellhole completely sane."

A little bit of doubt entered Sirius's voice when he replied. "I'm sure that I can pass." Inside his head he thought ' _Even if some gold has to change hands._ '

"Good, because you know that Dumbledore will use any problems against you."

"Speaking about Dumbledore, I was surprised not to see him in the courtroom."

"I was a little surprised about that myself. I did receive a note from a mutual 'friend' that said he would keep him away. You still have no idea who the mystery letter writer is?"

"No clue."

Harry smiled to himself.

Amelia continued, "Well… St. Mungo's is the first step. You will have to show that you can take care of Mr. Potter, You know, like enough Galleons to support him and a safe place to live."

"Well I have the Galleons and a place." The house at Grimmauld place sprang to mind. "I'm not sure how safe it is after twelve years, but I'll make it the safest place in Britain if it means getting Harry."

"That's good. There are a few forms that you have to fill out right now and then I think we should get you to St. Mongo's before Dumbledore can interfere. I don't know how long our 'friend' can keep the man busy."

"How do we know that he won't interfere with the results after the fact?"

"I'll send a pair of Aurors to St. Mungo's with you and have them bring back the results right away. In fact I'll assign a pair of Aurors for your protection until the general public knows that you aren't a wanted murderer". Amelia had noticed the looks that Sirius received on the way to her office even if she didn't comment on it.

Sirius was a little wary about the Auror guards because it would make possible bribing the healer difficult if not impossible but he also noticed the looks he received earlier and grudgingly accepted the offer. As he was about to leave he remembered something else. "What happened to Peter?"

"Oh Pettigrew. After being questioned under Veritasirum he was found guilty of accessory to murder of the Potters and the Murder of those twelve Muggles. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban. The judges took my recommendation for hin to be placed in your old cell."

This brought a small smile to Sirius's face before he asked, "You made sure to ward it against the Animagus transformation and to cover all the rat holes that are already in the cell?"

Amelia looked a little startled. "I set up the anti Animagus wards already but didn't think of existing holes. I'll get right on that." She started writing on a piece of parchment that turned into a airplane when she finished and flew off. "That's taken care of. The ward should work but why take any chances."

Sirius felt better and left with the two Aurors that were waiting outside the Ministers office after she gave them their new instructions. They were met in the lobby by Auror Tonks who escorted Black to St. Mungo's with Harry following them disillusioned. Once Sirius was led into an examination room, Harry popped back to Hogwarts to give Remus and Harry Jr. the good news. He checked on the still sleeping Dumbledore before popping back to keep an eye on Sirius.

The physical exams only took about thirty minutes. Slight malnourishment and some old war injuries were the only things found. The healers were shocked at how healthy Sirius was after spending twelve years in Azkaban, even if Harry and Sirius weren't as surprised. Harry had made sure that Sirius recovered as much as possible since escaping the prison. The mind healer took quite a bit longer but also gave Sirius a clean bill of health. Harry wasn't too impressed with the Mind Healer exam and realized that the Muggle world took mental health more seriously. Of course he wasn't too surprised if how they treated Neville's parents was any indication of the wizards version of mental health care, Locking them up and all but forgetting about them. Harry vowed to see if there was anything he could do for the Longbottom's and anyone else in the Janus Thickly ward.

As promised, once the exams were complete, Auror Tonks received the report and immediately headed back to the Ministry. Harry decided to stay with Sirius and trust Tonks to get the report where it needed to go. Since Dumbledore was still out of commission the choice was easy.


	23. Chapter 23

What The Chapter Twenty Three

The first snag occurred as Sirius was leaving St. Mungo's. Apparently the press had gotten the information about Sirius's and Pettigrews trial and had tracked down one of the last Marauders. Knowing that he would have to face the press at one point, Sirius, Remus and Harry had a pre-planned statement prepared for Sirius to give. As Sirius stepped off the Elevator a flash went off in his face and questions were shouted at him. Auror Smithe and Shackelbolt immediately pused Sirius behind them and drew their wands. After a moment of realizing what the situation was, they lowered their wands and Sirius stepped forward. With a smile on his face, Sirius gave his prepared speech, not even trying to answer the multitude of questions being thrown at him. "Hello all! I am happy to say that justice has finally been done. I am now a free man as I should have been for the last twelve years thanks to the tireless efforts of Amelia bones. The true culprit has been caught and the truth has come to light. Now as you may realize there is a lot that I have to accomplish to get my life back in order so if you will excuse me…" Sirius looked back at the Aurors and they stepped forward to clear a path, moving the more stubborn reporters who were still shouting questions at Sirius.

It took five minutes for Sirius to leave the Hospital and the reporters behind. Sirius was glad for the Auror detail and unknown to him and the Aurors, Harry/Dobby sent a tripping hex that caused a large group of the reporters to, well trip.

The second stop of the day for Sirius was to Gringotts to get his accounts in order and to take up the Black Lordship. Not wanting to enter the bank himself, Harry popped back to Hogwarts and gave the second update of the day to Remus. Harry Jr. had left earlier after hearing that Sirius was freed. Not knowing how long Sirius would take at the bank, Harry decided to check on the Horcrux's that he had already acquired. The Locket and Diadem were safely tucked away, so that only left the ring out in the open. The Cup was still at Gringotts and Harry wasn't sure if Nagini was turned into one yet. The Cup at Gringotts still posed a problem. According to Sirius, even when he became the Head of the House of Black he shouldn't be able to take anything from Bella's vault because she was now considered a part of the House of Lestrange. The only conceivable way to possibly access the vault was if both Lestrane brothers were dead and their wills didn't leave the vault to anyone other than Bellatrix. Sirius was going to check the marriage contract to be sure there were no loopholes that they might be able to take advantage of, but he didn't think there would be because both the House of Black and the House of Lestrange were sticklers when it came to ironclad contracts. So far the only plan they had was to have the Lestrange brothers meet with an accident. When this happened, since there were no children from the marriage, Bellatrix would become a part of the House of Black again, which would then allow Sirius access to her vault as Head of House. It was looking more and more likely that is what would have to happen.

Planning two more possible murders caused Harry to hear a whimper from Dobby in the back of his mnd though Dobby didn't say anything else. It had been a while since Harry had heard from Dobby and he was getting concerned. "Dobby, are you alright?"

" _Dobby be's good Master Harry Potter sir_."

"You don't have to call me Masr… never mind. I'm getting a little worried about not hearing from you for a while now. Are you sure you are alright?"

" _Dobby be's fine but Dobby stills not likes killing_."

Harry sighs, "Neither do I but sometimes it can't be avoided. Even though there are more Death Eaters still out there, these two should be the last that I will have to…kill, other than Riddle. Now that the Ministry seems to be on the right track I should be able to turn over the other Death Eaters for their proper punishment, even if I have to provide the evidence. We will have to wait and see how the Election for Minister turns out. If Amelia does become the permanent Minister it should be smooth sailing."

" _Dobby would likes no mores killing_."

"Me too Dobby, me too. Are you sure that there is nothing I can do for you?"

"No Master Harry Potter Sirs. Dobby be happy to just be's with you'se"

"Ok Dobby. Let me know if you need anything."

Not wanting to miss Sirius when he left Gringotts, Harry popped back to Diagon Alley and waited, Disillusioned across the street from the imposing white building. It was another two hours before Sirius and his Auror escort were spotted again. As according to the plan the next stop on the list was to Olivanders for a new wand because Sirius's old wand was snapped when he was sent to Azkaban. Another illegal procedure because even convicted criminals didn't have their wand destroyed when they were sentenced to Azkaban. The destruction of Sirius's wand was just another piece of evidence that pointed to a major conspiracy in his illegal incarceration.

Sirius walking down Diagon Alley caused another major stir. It still wasn't common knowledge that Sirius was proven to innocent, so have the mass murderer sent many sheep, I mean people screaming even though he was being escorted by two Aurors, even with their bold red Auror robes. Sirius seemed be getting a kick out of watching the chaos that his mere appearance was causing but all Harry could do was sigh at the response of Britain's wizarding society. The Aurors seemed to share Harry opinion of the crowd because Harry could see an eye roll every few minutes, especially when people would scream for the Aurors even though they were right there.

The smile did leave Sirius's face when he was hit with a stunning spell and a man shouted that he "caught the escaped murder." The man joined Sirius in unconsciousness a moment later from a stunning spell from Kingsley. Seeing the chaos that followed Sirius, the two Aurors enervated him and moved to the closest shop, which happened to be Eyelops Owl Emporium. Kingsley cleared out the shop while the other Auror used the shops Floo to call for more back up.

It was five minutes before three more Aurors arrived at the shop and another ten before Amelia herself showed up with two more. "Not even out a day and already causing problems Sirius?"

"Not my fault. " replied Sirius.

Sighing, Amelia replied, " I know, just… maybe it would be better for you to avoid the Alley, or anywhere public until the general populous knows that you are innocent."

indignantly Sirius responded, I just got my freedom and you're going to take it away from me again?" Sirius was practically shouting at the end

"Relax!. No one is going to lock you up. It's just that you can probably expect more of the same reaction until everything calms down."

Sirius paced for a few moments before responding, " Fine! I'll avoid the pathetic masses, " Amelia let out a relieved sigh before Sirius continued. "But I have two problems."

Looking into Sirius's eyes and seeing determination there, Amelia asked. "And what are the two problems?"

"I'm not leaving the Alley before I have a new wand. I can do the rest of my shopping another time, but I'm not leaving here unarmed."

"That's reasonable. And again I apologies for the irregularity about your old wand."

"Sirius waved the apology off, "Not your doing. The other problem is that I don't have a place to stay at the moment."

Lookin confused, Amelia asked. "I thought you said you have a property that you would use? You know you can't gain guardianship of Harry Potter without a residence?"

"Oh, I have a place alright. The problem is it has been left to… stagnate for the last few years. I arranged for the Goblins to clear it out and ward it to high heaven, but it won't be ready for another three days. Even with the rush service that I paid a pretty Knut for, that's the earliest it will be available."

"So what were you planning to do?"

"Well I was hoping to rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron."

Sighing for what felt like the thousandth time that day, Amelia said, "That might… not be the best option at this time. What about where you were hiding after you escaped from Azkaban?"

"I already told you that I have no idea where that was. If I could I would go back there, if for no other reason than to thank... whoever took me there, I would."

Harry, listening disillusioned in the corner of the shop was thinking that going back to the house in Stoke-on-Trent would probably be a good idea if it wasn't for the Auror guard. He was planning transporting Sirius later that night after he checked into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry didn't want the location publicly know and so far only Sirius was keyed into the wards even if he didn't know where the house was located. Not even Remus or Harry Jr. knew where the house was or were keyed into it yet and only he could key others into the ward. The plan was to keep the house hidden while letting people believe that Sirius and eventually Harry Jr. would be staying at Grimmauld place. Harry knew that Sirius would like to never step into that property ever again, even with the Goblins clearing it out, but would if it meant getting custody of Harry Jr.. Not wanting other people to know about him yet meant that the house on Stoke-on-Trent wasn't an option at the moment.

Amelia brought Harry out of his thoughts by saying, "Well shit." This caused Sirius to snort and Amelia continued, " OK… OK… How about I send you out to get your wand and you met up back at the Ministry? I hopefully I will have a solution for your temporary living arrangements when you get there."

Not thinking of anything better to do, Sirius agreed and left for Olivanders with a four person Auror guard. Amelia stared to make her way back to the Ministry and Harry had an idea.

When Amelia returned to the Ministers office she was met with the sight of yet another envelope on her desk. Harry was hidden in the corner of the office and saw her visibly deflate at the sight of the envelope. She resignedly took out her wand and scanned the letter before opening it. She didn't even call an Auror or her secretary in about the letter and Harry almost felt sorry for her.

The letter read 'Dear Minister,

It has come to my attention that you are having a problem housing Sirius black after his release. I know you wish to keep the man safe but can't devote too many Ministry resources to his care (Even though it was the Ministry's fault that he would need such protection in the first place). I may be able to take a take this load off your shoulders. With Mr. Blacks consent, and yours, I can provide shelter until his primary residence is available in three days time. If you both are agreeable, I will provide a Portkey for Mr. Black to his safe haven. The only thing that I ask is that Mr. Black, and only Mr. Black take the portkey to the location. If this is is satisfactory I will send information on where to pick up the Portkey.

A Friend.'

When Amelia finished reading the note, she laid her head on her desk and Harry heard her mutter, "How in Merlins name does he know so much? And how the hell does he keep getting into my office!?"

It was thirty minutes later when Sirius reappeared in the Ministers office and Amelia handed him the letter to read after dismissing the Auror guard. She asked, "So what do you think?"

Harry hoped that Sirius would go for it but he wasn't sure because most of his memories of the house and Harry/Dobby had been Obliviated to protect everyone's secrets during his questioning by the DMLE. A copy of all the lost memories was waiting for him back at the house but Sirius didn't know that yet.

It took a moment for Sirius to finish reading before he put the letter down and replied, " I don't know the guy but he did help me out, probably saved my life, so I have no reason not to trust him. Do you have any thoughts one way or the other?"

"So far everything he has told me has been true and I can't figure out what his angle is yet, but it seems to be benign, or at least not Dark."

"Any other options that you came up with while you were waiting for me to return?"

"Not really. I could put you up in a Ministry safe house, but that would require a three person rotating Auror guard and you wouldn't be able to leave the premises."

"No thanks."

"The other option is letting you find your own place to stay and provide an Auror guard. If you did that I would only be able to provide you with two Aurors like before, and we know haw that turned out."

Rubbing his head where he hit it where he fell after being stunned, Sirius said, "What do you think I should do?"

Picking up the letter and reading it again, Amelia answered, "If it were me, I would take the 'Friend' up on his offer. If for no other reason than to find out more about our mysterious benefactor."

"I think your right. Now, how do we get in touch with our 'Friend'?"

Before Amelia answered, Harry removed the notice-Me-Not charm that he placed on the second envelope that he placed on the Ministers desk at the same time that he placed the first envelope. Both Amelia and Sirius jumped to their feet in shock and Amelia screamed "How the hell does he keep doing that!? I was right here!"

Sirius smirked at her indignation and Harry would have been heard laughing his ass of if it wasn't for silencing spells. A pair of Aurors rushed into the room with their wands drawn and Amelia ordered them to immediately scan the office. Not wanting to take any chances and already knowing that Sirius had agreed to come to the house, Harry popped out of the office to wait for Sirius to arrive to the location that the Portkey in the second envelope would drop him off at. He would have to snd Amelia another bottle of Fire Whisky another time as an apology for the fright.


	24. Chapter 24

What The Chapter Twenty Four

It was ten minutes later that Sirius popped into existence. Not completely trusting the Ministry (Or not at all) Harry placed the Portkey location right in the middle of Knockturn Alley. The moment that Sirius showed up he grabbed ahold and popped them both to the house in Stokes-On-Trent. After recovering from a Portkey and immediate Elf apparition, Sirius exclaimed, "What the Hell?"

Before Sirius could continue, Harry/Dobby said "Relax Padfoot, you're safe."

"Jhonty?" was Sirius's eloquent response.

Beckoning Sirius to sit on the couch behind the man, Harry replied "In a manner of speaking." This did nothing to help with the confusion on Sirius's face so Harry continued "Everything has gone according to plan, even better in some cases."

"What plan? What's going on?"

Knowing that any explanation would either take too long or maybe not even be believed, Harry produced the Pensive that had Sirius's memories stored and knocked Sirius face first into the bowl. Twenty minutes later a sputtering Sirius re-emerged and promptly passed out. Not knowing how long Sirius would be unconscious, Harry placed him in bed and asked for a House Elf to watch over him as he popped back to Hogwarts.

Deciding to check in with Sophia, Harry made his way to the Room of Requirement and called out "Honey, I'm home."

" _Yes you are_." Replied the voice of Hogwarts in his head.

Chuckling to himself at the no nonsense reply, he spoke again "Did you miss me?"

" _No_."

"Awww, I missed you."

 _Did you?"_

"No, not really. But it is nice to be home." This made Harry realize that he really did now consider Hogwarts home. Before it had always been a refuge from the Dursley's and the ordinary world he grew up in. During his school days in the past (or was it the future?) it was a wonderful place with friendship, adventure, challenge and even danger but never quite 'Home". Somehow coming to the past and merging with Dobby and the castle had brought about a new feeling of belonging that had not been present in the past. Deciding that he liked the feeling, Harry lounged on the couch that the room provided and commented "I am home, aren't I?"

" _Yes you are_." Was the simple reply from Hogwarts that brought a smile to Harrys face.

It was another two hours before anything else happened. The first thing was that Dumbledore woke up. The castle let Harry know the moment the headmaster first started to stir and Harry popped into the man's office. Five minutes later a flustered Dumbledore rushed into the office from his personal quarters. After reading a few of the memos that were on his desk, which caused his eyebrows to raise so far into his hairline that Harry thought that they might never come back down his face, Dumbledore immediately Floo called Elphias Doge and questioned him about the trials that he missed.

"There you are Dumbledore! I've been trying to contact you all day. Are you alright?" asked Doge as soon as Dumbledore's Floo call connected.

Waving off the concern, Dumbledore replied "Never mind that Elphias. What happened at the trials I missed?"

Knowing the man for most of his life, Doge was a little surprised at the reaction of the Headmaster but answered his question "Well, there were two. The first was for Peter Pettigrew. Can you believe it. The man was alive all this time and no one knew."

"Yes yes. Unbelievable. What happened? My notices only said that he was found guilty."

A little flustered, Doge replied "Well yeah. Turns out that he was in fact the Secret Keeper for the Potters, not Sirius Black. He was also responsible the murder of the twelve muggles that Black was also accused of. Not to mention that he was a marked Death Eater"

Dumbledore was silent for a few moments, apparently lost in thought before he replied to Doge "And Sirius Black?"

"He was the second trial, if you could call it that. The panel found him innocent right away. Nothing else for it after hearing from Pettigrew. Poor man, spending so much time in Azkaban, being innocent and all. Shame really.

"Yes, Yes" replied Dumbledore distractedly. "And where is Black now?"

"No idea. I heard that he caused quite a ruckus in Diagon Alley earlier but other than that, I don't know."

After hearing this, Dumbledore removed his head from the Floo, immediately ending the call and rushed to his desk. ' _A little rude_.' Thought Harry. After another five minutes of Dumbledore going over the memos on his desk, the Headmaster left for the Ministry from his Floo, after checking the Lemon Drops that were in the bowl on his deck. Harry laughed to himself when the scan came back clear.

Harry planned to follow Dumbledore and knew that his destination was the Ministry by hearing the man call it out as he stepped into the Floo. Even without hearing the destination, Harry would have been able to follow the man because he placed an Elf tracking charm on the man's Half Moon Glasses. Harry didn't worry that the charm would be detected because it would be hidden by all the other charms that Dumbledore had placed on them himself.

Harry gave the man a few moments to get to wherever he planned to go before he popped to Dumbledore's location invisible and silenced. When he found Dumbledore again, he was in the Wizengamots record Department looking over the transcripts of Pettigrews and Blacks trials. Harry saw the frown that was on the Headmasters face and wondered what the man was thinking. Did he feel guilty for sentencing an innocent man to hell for twelve years? Was he berating himself for missing the obvious traitor that was Pettigrew? Did he regret his past actions? Harry knew that he would probably never know the answers to these question seeing what kind of man the Headmaster was.

It took another ten minutes for Dumbledore to finish with the transcripts before he left and Harry followed him directly to the Ministers office. ' _Here we go_." Thought Harry as Dumbledore walked Directly into Amelia's office without even knocking.

"Amelia…" Dumbledore began before he was forced to block a stunner that the Minister sent directly at him.

Being overly jumpy, which Harry partially blamed on himself for his previous actions, Amelia had her wand drawn and the stunning spell on its way as soon as she heard the door opening. After seeing that the spell was successfully blocked, she was about to apologies when she noticed who it was that entered her office, WITHOUT EVEN KNOCKING. Dumbledore seemed to be too shocked to continue what he was saying as he entered the office so Amelia asked "What do you think you were doing, barging in like that?"

Regaining his composure, Dumbledore put a disappointed expression on his face and asked right back "Was that really necessary Amelia?"

Not feeling an ounce of remorse, Amelia replied "Yes."

This simple answer seemed to cause Dumbledore to lose a little of his composure. "How was shooting a spell at me necessary?"

Not even bothering to answer the question, Amelia asked. "What do you want Dumbledore?"

Nonplussed, Dumbledore took a moment to sit in front of the Ministers desk before answering. "I came to enquire about Sirius Blacks trial."

Harry and Amelia both seemed to notice that Pettigrews trial wasn't mentioned by the Headmaster. Amelia answered, "He was found not guilty."

Dumbledore was quiet for a few moments waiting for Amelia to add more information before he finally asked another question. "And where is the man now?"

"And why do you want to know?"

Bringing the disappointed grandfather look back to his facial features, Dumbledore replied, "I only want to make sure the man is alright. He has gone through a traumatic experience and I want to see that he is coping, that he is safe."

Fortunately Amelia was one of the people that Dumbledore's benevolent grandfather act had no effect on. "As far as I know, the man is perfectly safe. Other than that I have no idea where he is"

"As far as you know? How can you not know where he is?"

"Why should I?" responded Amelia before returning her attention to the parchmentwork on her desk.

Dumbledore was thrown by the dismissive attitude of the Minister and took a moment to compose himself before responding, "It is imperative that I speak with Sirius Black as soon as possible."

Not even looking up, Amelia asked "Why?"

"It's… personal."

Looking back up at Dumbledore, Amelia asked, "Then why barge into my office and bother me about it? Can't you see that I'm extremely busy?"

It took another few moments before Dumbledore replied. "Of course, my apologies. Good day Minister, I'll see myself out."

"You do that. And Dumbledore," Dumbledore turned back as he reached the door. " if you enter my office again without knocking… I won't stop at one stunner."

Harry followed Dumbledore out of the Ministers office and smirked at the frown on the man's face. He reminded himself that he owed Amelia a bottle of Firewhisky. ' _Better make it a case_.' Thought Harry. Dumbledore's next stop was at Gringotts and Harry once again stayed outside the bank. While he was waiting for Dumbledore to re-emerge, the House Elf that he asked to watch over Sirius popped in next to min. "Master Harry sir. Doggy Black has waked and be askin for you'se."

"Thank you Tilly." Not really wanting to leave watching Dumbledore but knowing that he would have to for Sirius. if for no other reason than to make sure that the memory reabsorption was successful. Harry ordered Tilly to follow Dumbledore unseen and report back to him when Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts. Tilly of course agreed and Harry popped to Sirius's side at the house in Stoke-on-Trent.

Harry immediately regretted not removing Sirius's wand as he found himself upside down hanging from his ankle. He saw an overly gleeful Sirius Black dancing about shouting "I got him, I got him!"

A quick snap of his fingers found Harry right side up once more with a curse on his lips that died down after seeing Sirius so outrageously happy. He couldn't help but laugh at his Godfathers antics before getting the man's attention. "I take it your memories are back?"

After catching his breath, Sirius replied, "Oh yeah. I remember what I forgot…I think."

"That's good. Tell me what you remember so we can be sure."

"OK." and so Sirius retold all the experiences he went through since Harry/Dobby rescued him from Privit Dr. the last Summer.

"It seems that you got all your memories back. That's good. How are you feeling otherwise?"

"Pretty good, all things considered. My new Olivander wand is a better match than any of the others that you provided earlier."

"That's good. Hopefully it will help with the cleansing ritual." This seemed to sober both of them up.

"Yeah. I still need to work on that." replied Sirius somberly.

Seeing that mood swings were still a bit of a problem for Sirius, Harry decided to change the subject, "Now that you're a free man, what do you want to do?"

Sirius smiled, "Other than see Harry and Mooney? I'm not too sure. I spent so much time worrying over the trials that I didn't think about what comes next. I think that as soon as I'm sure that I won't get hexed, I really want a Butterbeer from Madame Rosmerta at the Three Broomstivks."

"Not a Firewhisky?"

'Oh that will be the second thing I do. And third and fouth."

"If you want I can go get you a Butterbeer right now."

"It's not the same. I can wait. How long do you think that might be?"

Well the story should be in tomorrow's Prophet if it isn't in a special edition tonight. I would say give it one more day for the information to sink in. You might want to talk to Amelia about giving you an Auror guard again the first time too."

"Amelia?' Sirius responded with a smirk. "On first name basis with the Minister are we?"

Harry smirked back. "I am. She's not." This caused both men to chuckle. Now that Sirius had his memories back, he knew that Dobby was the mysterious 'friend' that seemed to frustrate the Minister so much. "OK, after your Butterbeer and Firewhisky?"

"Let's see. I need to make sure Grimmauld place is livable and whatever else I have to do to make sure I get custody of Harry. That ritual for you and then… I don't really know."

"It's looking good on the custody front. I know that you have the support of the Minister and hopefully Dumbledore doesn't get in the way. I'll do my best to make sure that he doesn't."

"Thanks. I was actually surprised not to see him at the trial." I know that you said that you would take care of that but it was still a surprise. What did you do?"

Looking smug, Harry told him exactly he kept Dumbledore away from the trials and laughter would've been heard for miles if it wasn't for the secrecy wards around the house.

It was hours later that Harry returned to the castle. It was decided that until the custody of Harry Jr was confirmed, Sirius would stay away from Jr and Remus even if they still communicated with the mirrors. Dumbledore was once again in his office when Harry returned and Tilly gave him a report of the Headmasters movements that day. It seems that after Dumbledore left Gringotts, his next stop was St. Mungo's. Harry watched a memory of Dumbledore questioning both healers that examined Sirius. Harry was glad that the healers kept all the details of their examinations quiet, only telling Dumbledore that Sirius was in good health. Dumbledore's next destination was back to the Ministry, this time to the Chief Warlock's office. Harry watched memories of Dumbledore making Floo calls to many different people and sending out several memos. Harry was extremely proud of Tilly for providing him with copies of all the memo's that Dumbledore sent out. Harry was a little disturbed that many of the memos were about proposing a new law that denied custody to anybody that spent time in Azkaban. Harry would have to keep a close eye on how this developed but could already see a few loopholes that could ruin the bill. No matter what, he was disappointed in the Headmaster.

Calling out to Sophia to get a report of what the Headmaster had done when he returned to Hogwarts, Harry was surprised that Sophia responded with " _Nothing_."

"What do you mean nothing?"

" _I mean that the Headmaster returned forty minutes ago and sat at his desk and has not moved since_."

"Is he awake?"

" _Yes_."

"Strange. Let me know when he decides to join the world again."

" _OK_."

After hearing this, Harry decided to get his four hours of sleep. It had been one of the longest days of his life.

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	25. Chapter 25

What The Chapter Twenty Five

After waking from his four hours of sleep, Harry found Tilly once again by his side. "Master Harry should know that Headmaster Whiskers has left and returned to Hogwarts."

Taking a moment to clear his head from sleep, Harry replied "How long ago did he leave and where did he go?"

Illy replied "Headmaster Whiskers left bout two hours after you'se go to sleeps. Tliiy followed Headmaster Whiskers and he's goes to street called Grim mold in London. Headmaster Whiskers looks around and waves wand at building thens leaves. Did Tilly do good?"

"Yes Tilly, you did good. Thank you." With that the Elf popped away and Harry had to wonder what Dumbledore did. Deciding that wondering was pointless, he popped to Grimmauld place and started to examine the property. Not wanting to interfere with the Gringotts curse breakers that he knew were in the house, he stuck to examining the outside of the building. Not being attached to the wards like he was at Hogwarts and not really knowing anything about regular Wizarding wards, Harry came up with nothing and made a note to ask Sirius to ask Gringotts to double check outside the property for anything unusual. Having nothing else to do there, Harry popped back to Hogwarts.

It was now five in the morning and everyone was still sleeping so Harry decided to wander the halls of Hogwarts. He noticed that the castle was the cleanest that he had ever seen it. Not that the House Elves ever let the castle stay dirty, but all the little repairs like fixing cracks in the walls or repairing dents in the suits of armor, or cleaning the paintings that were hanging on the walls, basically anything that would have required a direct order for the Elves to do. Now that they were following the castles orders again, all the small stuff was getting done again.

Harry's revelry was broken when Mrs. Norris sauntered around the corner up ahead, and where Mrs Norris was, Filch was soon to follow. Harry hadn't paid much attention to the caretaker this year, instead focusing on more important issues like his Godfather and getting revenge on the Dursleys. In fact he almost felt sorry for the man, being a Squib in a magical castle full of children that could do what he could not. Harry thought that it was actually pretty cruel of the Headmaster to keep a man like that employed at Hogwarts. Harry decided that he would look for another place that the cantankerous man could find work or maybe just get the man to retire. He knew that the House Elf compulsion would work on the man and decided to have him retire at the end of the year. He would make sure that he had enough Galleons to live comfortably for the rest of his days, it was the least that Hogwarts owed the man. Having made up his mind, he waited for the man to round the corner following his cat. It took only about three minutes before he showed up, huffing along and grumbling under his breath. Harry never heard what he said, and really didn't want to, before he let loose with the House Elf compulsion charm. The compulsion suggestion was quite simple; 'I'm tired of this place and these damn kids. I'm going to retire at the end of the year." A simple suggestion, and one that wouldn't seem out of character for the man.

Feeling that he accomplished something, Harry popped back to where Sirius was staying and gently (Dropping a bucket of ice cold water on the man) woke him up, after all six was long enough to sleep in right? Sirius didn't agree.

A groggy (and soggy) Sirius joined Harry/Dobby at the breakfast table "I'm going to get you back for that, you know."

Harry snickered "If you say so. Until then what do you want to do today?"

After taking a sip of his tea, Sirius replied "Well I promised Amelia that I would stay out of the public eye for at least one more day, so… I'm not sure."

"When did you promise Amelia that? And on a first name basis now?"

"Smirking, Sirius said, "Well I can't let you be the only one now can I? As for promising not to wander, I used that Elf… Tilly I think her name was, to send an owl to her."

"Oh, OK." Harry never thought of sending the Minister an Owl. It made so much sense, but leaving notes on her desk directly was so much more fun. That also reminded Harry that he needed to send her a case of Firewhisky.. "That reminds me, I found out that Dumbledore visited Grimmauld place. He never entered but did something on the outside. You should probably have the Gringotts team that you have cleaning out the place check it out."

"Good idea. I wonder what he did?"

"No idea. Probably just a alert or something. Still a bit of a dick move."  
This garnered a chuckle from Sirius. "Yeah, probably. Has he done anything else?"

Harry paused before replying, "Well… He started to send out some memos proposing a new bill that would deny custody of minors to anyone who has spent time in Azkaban."

This caused Sirius to stop the fork that was on the way to his mouth. A moment later the fork was put back on the plate and a morose Sirius to hang his head. Harry could hear him murmur under his breath "Bastard." Harry had to agree.

Before Sirius could drift further into depression, Harry continued "I'm not sure what the final bill will say but there are so many problems with it that it will never pass. I'll make sure of that so don't worry."

Looking a little better, Sirius said "Thanks. Why would he do that? He hasn't even spoken to me and he seems convinced that I'm a bad person."

"I don't think that he thinks you're bad. He just has an unhealthy obsession with controlling Harry and you aren't part of those plans."

"You think it has to do with the Horcruxs and the prophecy?"

"Most likely, and probably guilt over Riddle in the first place. Or he's just senile."

"My vote is for senile."

"I'm leaning more toward that option myself." The room was quiet for a few moments before Harry spoke again. "Enough of that, what do you say we plan your grand reappearance into Proper Wizarding sSociety?" The last was said with a posh accent so outrageous that neither Harry or Sirius could keep the laughter from escaping.

After a few hours of planning the grand unveiling, and with a note to Gringotts for an Owl to send, Harry popped back to Hogwarts. Harry checked in with Remus and Harry Jr. So far Dumbledore hadn't approached either, but Harry knew that would change shortly. Letting both know that everything was going as planned, his next stop was to one of the special configurations of the Room of Requirement. Harry walked into wat seemed like the worlds largest wine cellar. There were thousands of bottles everywhere. Wine, Mead Firewhiskey, Butterbeer, Gilly Water, and a surprising amount of muggle alcohol including Brandy. The last made harry think to make sure that Trelawny never came across this room. Harry had made sure that once he started to 'redistribute' the Death Eaters personal property, that he took everything of value, including their alcohol. No reason for them to be able to drink their sorrows away.

Grabbing a case of fifty year old Firewhisky, Harry looked around morosely and thought, 'Too bad House Elves can't take hard Alcohol. I never really got a chance to try anything in my last life and now I can't. Well nothing for it. Maybe I should open a bar when this is all over. Sirius would probably love that. Amelia should like this case. Only the best for the Minister.' And with that he popped away.

When Amelia came back from lunch and found a case of very good Firewhisky on her desk and another note from 'A Friend," she just hung her head and pulled out a glass.

Back in the rest of the world, the news of Sirius Blacks innocence was proclaimed all over the cover of the Daily Prophet. Diagon Alley was abuzz, especially with the sighting the previous day. The Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks, and even the Hogs Head did great business that day. Everyone wanted to tell their friends that they "never believed that Sirius was guilty" and that they "never really trusted that strange Pettigrew fellow". It was no surprise to Harry , who was hidden in the corner of the Leaky Cauldron , that it was the same people that he overheard at the beginning of summer when Sirius escaped that said that they "Knew that Black was no good, " and that "That poor Pettigrew fellow." Harry was quite disgusted with the sheep of wizarding society and many people found out that their gold was mysteriously missing when they went to pay for their drinks.

The Daily Prophet also caused quite a stir at Hogwarts even though Harry missed it. Once again Harry Jr was the recipient of stares from almost all the occupants of the castle. This time he knew what the stares were about even if he couldn't let others know that he knew. The twins were the first to congratulate Harry on his Godfather being free. Harry had to act surprised to hear that Sirius Black was his Godfather and this confused several people at the table. Everyone always seemed to assume that Harry knew about his past and the wizarding world so hadn't bothered to tell him anything. If it wasn't for Dobby, Remus, and to a lesser extent, Sirius, Harry wouldn't have been prepared. He still had to keep the extent of his knowledge secret, but up intil a few months ago he knew practically nothing so faking confusion wasn't a problem.

When the table heard that he didn't know about his own Godfather, many looked sheepish. Especially Neville who was sitting to Harrys right. Ron was sitting farther down the table closer to Seamus and Dean. The Golden Trio had been slowly drifting apart over the year. Harry had spent more time in the library with Hermine or in Remus's office this year and both places were places that Ron didn't want to spend more time than required. This left more time for Neville to ingratiate himself with Harry. The fact that Harr/Dobby encouraged this had a bit to do with it too.

Neville asked "You didn't know that Sirius Black was your Godfather?"

Harry replied, "No how would I? "

Neville didn't know how to answer that and Hermione asked, "Haven't you ever looked yourself up in the library? You're in several books like Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Modern Magical History."

"I never bothered. I heard a little about them from you before and figured that they knew nothing about me. Remember that I was raised by muggles."

Neville asked, "So you don't know anything?" Harry gave Neville a glare and Neville spluttered, "I… I mean about your family history."

Harry felt a little bad about lying to everyone but he had to keep quiet about what Dobby, Remus, and Sirius were teaching him about his family. He hung his head and replied "No. The first time I saw a picture of my parents was when Hagrid gave me a photo album at the end of first year."

Neville looked around at the confused faces of his fellow Gryffindor's and turned back to Harry. "I don't know a great deal, but I'll tell you what I know. I'll even write Gran and see if she can send me something for you. Our parents were friends, I'm sure she knows some things."

A smile blossomed on Harrys face. "Thanks Nev. " "No problem Harry. "

Both boys went back to eating with a beaming Hermione looking at both of them. Several others at the Gryffindor table decided to write home to their parents for more information about the Potter family. Nobody had given any thought that Harry might not know anything about his family. It would explain some of his behavior if it was true..

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